Kinematics

Extensive terranes of basement reactivation are interpreted as resulting from crustal thickening following continental collision. It is suggested that terranes, such as the Grenville Province and much of the Variscan orogenic belt in Europe, have their modern analog in the Tibetan Plateau. The Tibetan Plateau is underlain by a continental crust between 60 and 80 km thick and is characterized by extensive high-potash Neogene vulcanism. Following T. H. Green's arguments that partial melting of a dioritic lower crust may yield potassic granitic liquids and refractory anorthositic residues, we consider that continental collision is followed by crustal thickening, to accommodate further plate convergence, with ensuing partial melting of the lower crust. At high structural levels, silicic-potassic ignimbrites are extruded in intermontane basin-horst terranes, with subjacent granite plutons. At deeper levels, a dry refractory lower crust consisting of pyroxene granulites and anor-thosites is generated.

@article{doi101086627920,
    author = "Dewey, John and Burke, Kevin",
    title = "Tibetan, Variscan, and Precambrian Basement Reactivation: Products of Continental Collision",
    year = "1973",
    journal = "The Journal of Geology",
    abstract = "Extensive terranes of basement reactivation are interpreted as resulting from crustal thickening following continental collision. It is suggested that terranes, such as the Grenville Province and much of the Variscan orogenic belt in Europe, have their modern analog in the Tibetan Plateau. The Tibetan Plateau is underlain by a continental crust between 60 and 80 km thick and is characterized by extensive high-potash Neogene vulcanism. Following T. H. Green's arguments that partial melting of a dioritic lower crust may yield potassic granitic liquids and refractory anorthositic residues, we consider that continental collision is followed by crustal thickening, to accommodate further plate convergence, with ensuing partial melting of the lower crust. At high structural levels, silicic-potassic ignimbrites are extruded in intermontane basin-horst terranes, with subjacent granite plutons. At deeper levels, a dry refractory lower crust consisting of pyroxene granulites and anor-thosites is generated.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1086/627920",
    doi = "10.1086/627920",
    openalex = "W2093671367"
}

During the interval between continental collision in the Devonian and continental breakup in the Triassic the northern Appalachians became the site of a wide plate boundary zone of dominantly right‐lateral strike slip. As is typical of intracontinental transforms, tectonism was both diachronous and rapidly variable along strike through regimes of ‘pure’ strike slip, transpressional deformation, and rapid subsidence of extensional basins. Up to 9 km of mainly nonmarine, clastic sediments accumulated in these local depocenters, which subsided episodically in two stages: (1) an initial phase of stretching and thinning of the lithosphere, when subsidence was rapid, fault controlled, and often accompanied by volcanism and (2) a subsequent phase of gradual thermal subsidence, during which the depositional basins expanded to bury the earlier border faults and progressively younger sedimentary units onlapped basement. The largest depocenter, the Magdalen Basin, opened as a pull‐apart between strike slip faults in Newfoundland and New Brunswick from late Devonian to early Carboniferous. Subsequent thermal subsidence affected a large area during medial and late Carboniferous, a phenomenon that is well recorded to the north and west, where no later tectonism occurred. In areas to the south and east of the basin, strike slip on other faults continued into the time of thermal subsidence, introducing complications such as localized transpressional deformation and rapid subsidence in smaller pull‐aparts.

@article{doi101029tc001i001p00107,
    author = "Bradley, Dwight C.",
    title = "Subsidence in Late Paleozoic basins in the northern Appalachians",
    year = "1982",
    journal = "Tectonics",
    abstract = "During the interval between continental collision in the Devonian and continental breakup in the Triassic the northern Appalachians became the site of a wide plate boundary zone of dominantly right‐lateral strike slip. As is typical of intracontinental transforms, tectonism was both diachronous and rapidly variable along strike through regimes of ‘pure’ strike slip, transpressional deformation, and rapid subsidence of extensional basins. Up to 9 km of mainly nonmarine, clastic sediments accumulated in these local depocenters, which subsided episodically in two stages: (1) an initial phase of stretching and thinning of the lithosphere, when subsidence was rapid, fault controlled, and often accompanied by volcanism and (2) a subsequent phase of gradual thermal subsidence, during which the depositional basins expanded to bury the earlier border faults and progressively younger sedimentary units onlapped basement. The largest depocenter, the Magdalen Basin, opened as a pull‐apart between strike slip faults in Newfoundland and New Brunswick from late Devonian to early Carboniferous. Subsequent thermal subsidence affected a large area during medial and late Carboniferous, a phenomenon that is well recorded to the north and west, where no later tectonism occurred. In areas to the south and east of the basin, strike slip on other faults continued into the time of thermal subsidence, introducing complications such as localized transpressional deformation and rapid subsidence in smaller pull‐aparts.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1029/tc001i001p00107",
    doi = "10.1029/tc001i001p00107",
    openalex = "W2129151658"
}

Numerical experiments on a thin viscous sheet model for deformation of continental lithosphere subjected to an indenting boundary condition yield distributions of crustal thickness, of stress and strain rate, and of latitudinal displacements that may be compared with observations in the India‐Asia collision zone. A simple indenting boundary condition applied to initially laterally homogeneous sheets obeying a power law rheology produces results that are in broad agreement with the observations, provided that the power law exponent is three or greater and the sheet can support vertically integrated stress differences of 2×10 13 (±5 × 10 12) N m −1 in regions in front of the indenter. Under these conditions, the calculated deformation shows accommodation of convergence primarily by crustal thickening, to produce a plateau in front of the indenter. Palaeomagnetic data from India and Tibet, and the observed distribution of topography, suggest that much of the post‐Eocene convergence of India with Asia has been taken up by deformation within Asia that involved crustal thickening. The principal difference between calculation and observation is the absence from the calculated strain rate fields of east‐west extension of the plateau in front of the indenting boundary. The calculations show that once such a plateau is formed, the buoyancy force associated with the crustal thickness contrast inhibits further thickening and the plateau strains at less than half the rate of its immediate surroundings. Seismically determined regional strain rates exhibit a similar distribution, with the Tibetan plateau straining at about one quarter the rate of the Tien Shan and Ningxia‐Gansu regions. Calculated principal compressive stress orientations and regional strain rates agree with the seismically determined quantities in the Mongolia‐Baikal, Tien Shan, Tibet, and Ningxia‐Gansu regions of Asia, to within the uncertainty of the latter. The vertically integrated stresses that are calculated for the viscous sheet are comparable with those that can be supported by a Theologically stratified continental lithosphere obeying laboratory‐determined flow laws. We suggest that the thin viscous sheet model, described in this paper and its companion, gives a simple and physically plausible description of the observed deformation in central Asia; in this description the predominant mechanism of accommodation of continental convergence is diffuse crustal thickening, with shear on vertical planes playing a subsidiary role once large crustal thickness contrasts have been established.

@article{doi101029jb091ib03p03664,
    author = "England, Philip and Houseman, G. A.",
    title = "Finite strain calculations of continental deformation: 2. Comparison with the India‐Asia Collision Zone",
    year = "1986",
    journal = "Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres",
    abstract = "Numerical experiments on a thin viscous sheet model for deformation of continental lithosphere subjected to an indenting boundary condition yield distributions of crustal thickness, of stress and strain rate, and of latitudinal displacements that may be compared with observations in the India‐Asia collision zone. A simple indenting boundary condition applied to initially laterally homogeneous sheets obeying a power law rheology produces results that are in broad agreement with the observations, provided that the power law exponent is three or greater and the sheet can support vertically integrated stress differences of 2×10 13 (±5 × 10 12) N m −1 in regions in front of the indenter. Under these conditions, the calculated deformation shows accommodation of convergence primarily by crustal thickening, to produce a plateau in front of the indenter. Palaeomagnetic data from India and Tibet, and the observed distribution of topography, suggest that much of the post‐Eocene convergence of India with Asia has been taken up by deformation within Asia that involved crustal thickening. The principal difference between calculation and observation is the absence from the calculated strain rate fields of east‐west extension of the plateau in front of the indenting boundary. The calculations show that once such a plateau is formed, the buoyancy force associated with the crustal thickness contrast inhibits further thickening and the plateau strains at less than half the rate of its immediate surroundings. Seismically determined regional strain rates exhibit a similar distribution, with the Tibetan plateau straining at about one quarter the rate of the Tien Shan and Ningxia‐Gansu regions. Calculated principal compressive stress orientations and regional strain rates agree with the seismically determined quantities in the Mongolia‐Baikal, Tien Shan, Tibet, and Ningxia‐Gansu regions of Asia, to within the uncertainty of the latter. The vertically integrated stresses that are calculated for the viscous sheet are comparable with those that can be supported by a Theologically stratified continental lithosphere obeying laboratory‐determined flow laws. We suggest that the thin viscous sheet model, described in this paper and its companion, gives a simple and physically plausible description of the observed deformation in central Asia; in this description the predominant mechanism of accommodation of continental convergence is diffuse crustal thickening, with shear on vertical planes playing a subsidiary role once large crustal thickness contrasts have been established.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1029/jb091ib03p03664",
    doi = "10.1029/jb091ib03p03664",
    openalex = "W2103796536",
    references = "doi101029jb082i020p02905, doi101029jb084ib07p03425, doi101029jb085ib11p06248, doi101038264319a0, doi101086627920, doi101111j1365246x1971tb02190x, doi101111j1365246x1982tb04969x, doi101126science1894201419, doi10113000167606197182563gotbdf20co2, doi10113000917613198210611petian20co2, openalexw574151162, powell1973plate"
}

Summary We use the tectonics of Eastern Anatolia to exemplify many of the different aspects of collision tectonics, namely the formation of plateaux, thrust belts, foreland flexures, widespread foreland/hinterland deformation zones and orogenic collapse/distension zones. Eastern Anatolia is a 2 km high plateau bounded to the S by the southward-verging Bitlis Thrust Zone and to the N by the Pontide/Minor Caucasus Zone. It has developed as the surface expression of a zone of progressively thickening crust beginning about 12 Ma in the medial Miocene and has resulted from the squeezing and shortening of Eastern Anatolia between the Arabian and European Plates following the Serravallian demise of the last oceanic or quasioceanic tract between Arabia and Eurasia. Thickening of the crust to about 52 km has been accompanied by major strike-slip faulting on the right-lateral N Anatolian Transform Fault (NATF) and the left-lateral E Anatolian Transform Fault (EATF) which approximately bound an Anatolian Wedge that is being driven westwards to override the oceanic lithosphere of the Mediterranean along subduction zones from Cephalonia to Crete, and Rhodes to Cyprus. This neotectonic regime began about 12 Ma in Late Serravallian times with uplift from wide-spread littoral/neritic marine conditions to open seasonal wooded savanna with colluvial, fluvial and limnic environments, and the deposition of the thick Tortonian Kythrean Flysch in the Eastern Mediterranean. Earthquake hypocentres are scattered throughout the region but large earthquakes are concentrated mainly on the major faults and are mostly shallow, supporting the idea of a brittle elastic lid with hypocentres concentrated towards its base with more ductile deformation in the middle and lower crust. Neotectonic magmatic suites are nepheline-hypersthene normative alkali basalts of mantle origin, and silicic/intermediate/mafic calcalkaline suites, both suites occurring in pull-apart basins in strike-slip regimes and along N-S extensional fissures, and both suites showing a strong change to central activity in the Pliocene. Upper-crustal strains appear to be discontinuous in space and time, with zones of strong shortening representing shoaling of crustal detachment zones flattening between 5 and 10 km. Approximately NW- (dextral) and NE- (sinistral) trending lineaments bound less deformed wedges (low relief seismically ‘dead’ areas) and vary from simple strike-slip faults to complicated braided transform-flake boundaries with pull-apart and compressional segments (N and E Anatolian Transform Faults). Volcanoes lie in grabens on N-S ‘cracks’ that extend into the Arabian Foreland and in transcurrent pull-aparts. Major extensional basins lie at plate (Adana) and flake (Karliova) triple junctions and result from compatibility problems.

@article{doi101144gslsp19860190101,
    author = "Dewey, John and Hempton, Mark R. and Kidd, W. S. F. and Şaroğlu, Fuat and Şengör, A. M. Celâl",
    title = "Shortening of continental lithosphere: the neotectonics of Eastern Anatolia — a young collision zone",
    year = "1986",
    journal = "Geological Society London Special Publications",
    abstract = "Summary We use the tectonics of Eastern Anatolia to exemplify many of the different aspects of collision tectonics, namely the formation of plateaux, thrust belts, foreland flexures, widespread foreland/hinterland deformation zones and orogenic collapse/distension zones. Eastern Anatolia is a 2 km high plateau bounded to the S by the southward-verging Bitlis Thrust Zone and to the N by the Pontide/Minor Caucasus Zone. It has developed as the surface expression of a zone of progressively thickening crust beginning about 12 Ma in the medial Miocene and has resulted from the squeezing and shortening of Eastern Anatolia between the Arabian and European Plates following the Serravallian demise of the last oceanic or quasioceanic tract between Arabia and Eurasia. Thickening of the crust to about 52 km has been accompanied by major strike-slip faulting on the right-lateral N Anatolian Transform Fault (NATF) and the left-lateral E Anatolian Transform Fault (EATF) which approximately bound an Anatolian Wedge that is being driven westwards to override the oceanic lithosphere of the Mediterranean along subduction zones from Cephalonia to Crete, and Rhodes to Cyprus. This neotectonic regime began about 12 Ma in Late Serravallian times with uplift from wide-spread littoral/neritic marine conditions to open seasonal wooded savanna with colluvial, fluvial and limnic environments, and the deposition of the thick Tortonian Kythrean Flysch in the Eastern Mediterranean. Earthquake hypocentres are scattered throughout the region but large earthquakes are concentrated mainly on the major faults and are mostly shallow, supporting the idea of a brittle elastic lid with hypocentres concentrated towards its base with more ductile deformation in the middle and lower crust. Neotectonic magmatic suites are nepheline-hypersthene normative alkali basalts of mantle origin, and silicic/intermediate/mafic calcalkaline suites, both suites occurring in pull-apart basins in strike-slip regimes and along N-S extensional fissures, and both suites showing a strong change to central activity in the Pliocene. Upper-crustal strains appear to be discontinuous in space and time, with zones of strong shortening representing shoaling of crustal detachment zones flattening between 5 and 10 km. Approximately NW- (dextral) and NE- (sinistral) trending lineaments bound less deformed wedges (low relief seismically ‘dead’ areas) and vary from simple strike-slip faults to complicated braided transform-flake boundaries with pull-apart and compressional segments (N and E Anatolian Transform Faults). Volcanoes lie in grabens on N-S ‘cracks’ that extend into the Arabian Foreland and in transcurrent pull-aparts. Major extensional basins lie at plate (Adana) and flake (Karliova) triple junctions and result from compatibility problems.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1144/gsl.sp.1986.019.01.01",
    doi = "10.1144/gsl.sp.1986.019.01.01",
    openalex = "W2086159836",
    references = "doi101029jb088ib05p04183, doi101038288329a0, doi101130001676061977881305lpsfis20co2, doi101130mem158p161, doi101144gsjgs14050741, powell1973plate"
}

Summary Field studies of active faulting in S Tibet indicate that Quaternary extension has been taking place at a rate of ≃1 cm yr −1 in a direction of ≃ 100°. This implies that underthrusting in the Himalayas now absorbs less than half of the total convergence between rigid India and Asia, the rest being taken up primarily by strike-slip faulting N of the collision belt. En échelon right-lateral, strike-slip faults in S Tibet now allow this corresponding eastward displacement of the plateau with respect to India. The reproducible pattern of faulting obtained from plane-strain indentation experiments on unilaterally confined blocks of plasticine suggests that this extrusion process has occurred during most of the collision history. The Tertiary geological record in SE Asia corroborates a polyphase extrusion model, with displacements in excess of 1000–1500 km, in which India has successively pushed Sundaland, then Tibet and S China towards the ESE. Most of the Middle Tertiary movements may have occurred along the then left-lateral Red River-Ailao Shan Fault Zone, together with the opening of most of the eastern S China Sea. Regional geology, stratigraphy and deformation observed in Yunnan are consistent with this inference, as well as the timing, geometry and rates of sea-floor spreading in the S China Sea. Fast spreading (5 cm yr −1) in that sea implies that the Tibetan highlands formed mostly after 17 Ma BP. Sideways movements can also account for the existence of large, conjugate but asymmetric, Tertiary strike-slip faults within Sundaland and the formation of Middle Tertiary pull-apart and rift basins on the Sunda Shelf. Changing directions of opening are predicted in the Mergui and Andaman Basins and the lowlands of Burma, as well as large right-lateral displacements along the Shan Scarp. Most of Sundaland probably lay initially in a frontal position with respect to impinging India and the Shan Plateau may have been a Middle Tertiary analogue of the present Tibetan Plateau. In contrast with dominant overthrusting in the Himalayas, Tertiary strike-slip faulting, with more subordinate folding and thrusting, appears to have been important along and N of the Zangbo Suture. This difference must be accounted for in all models of formation of the Tibet Plateau. The surface of the indentation mark, left by the impaction of India onto the presumably simpler Early Tertiary margin of Asia (> 6 million km 2), implies that mountain building and strike-slip faulting have absorbed, perhaps alternately, roughly equal amounts of collisional shortening. Since analogous interplays of extrusion and thickening probably govern the evolution of most collision zones, the Tertiary tectonics of Asia may be the best guide to unravel the interactions between Palaeozoic and Precambrian plates, for which sea-floor spreading constraints are unattainable.

@article{doi101144gslsp19860190107,
    author = "Tapponnier, P. and Peltzer, G. and Armijo, Rolando",
    title = "On the mechanics of the collision between India and Asia",
    year = "1986",
    journal = "Geological Society London Special Publications",
    abstract = "Summary Field studies of active faulting in S Tibet indicate that Quaternary extension has been taking place at a rate of ≃1 cm yr −1 in a direction of ≃ 100°. This implies that underthrusting in the Himalayas now absorbs less than half of the total convergence between rigid India and Asia, the rest being taken up primarily by strike-slip faulting N of the collision belt. En échelon right-lateral, strike-slip faults in S Tibet now allow this corresponding eastward displacement of the plateau with respect to India. The reproducible pattern of faulting obtained from plane-strain indentation experiments on unilaterally confined blocks of plasticine suggests that this extrusion process has occurred during most of the collision history. The Tertiary geological record in SE Asia corroborates a polyphase extrusion model, with displacements in excess of 1000–1500 km, in which India has successively pushed Sundaland, then Tibet and S China towards the ESE. Most of the Middle Tertiary movements may have occurred along the then left-lateral Red River-Ailao Shan Fault Zone, together with the opening of most of the eastern S China Sea. Regional geology, stratigraphy and deformation observed in Yunnan are consistent with this inference, as well as the timing, geometry and rates of sea-floor spreading in the S China Sea. Fast spreading (5 cm yr −1) in that sea implies that the Tibetan highlands formed mostly after 17 Ma BP. Sideways movements can also account for the existence of large, conjugate but asymmetric, Tertiary strike-slip faults within Sundaland and the formation of Middle Tertiary pull-apart and rift basins on the Sunda Shelf. Changing directions of opening are predicted in the Mergui and Andaman Basins and the lowlands of Burma, as well as large right-lateral displacements along the Shan Scarp. Most of Sundaland probably lay initially in a frontal position with respect to impinging India and the Shan Plateau may have been a Middle Tertiary analogue of the present Tibetan Plateau. In contrast with dominant overthrusting in the Himalayas, Tertiary strike-slip faulting, with more subordinate folding and thrusting, appears to have been important along and N of the Zangbo Suture. This difference must be accounted for in all models of formation of the Tibet Plateau. The surface of the indentation mark, left by the impaction of India onto the presumably simpler Early Tertiary margin of Asia (> 6 million km 2), implies that mountain building and strike-slip faulting have absorbed, perhaps alternately, roughly equal amounts of collisional shortening. Since analogous interplays of extrusion and thickening probably govern the evolution of most collision zones, the Tertiary tectonics of Asia may be the best guide to unravel the interactions between Palaeozoic and Precambrian plates, for which sea-floor spreading constraints are unattainable.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1144/gsl.sp.1986.019.01.07",
    doi = "10.1144/gsl.sp.1986.019.01.07",
    openalex = "W2022909854",
    references = "doi1010160012821x81901898, doi101029gm023p0089, doi101029jb082i020p02905, doi101029jb083ib11p05361, doi101038264319a0, doi101038307017a0, doi101086627920, doi101111j1365246x1982tb04969x, doi101126science1894201419, doi1011300016760619799084aasrcm20co2, doi10113000917613198210611petian20co2, openalexw617865741"
}

Abstract The Tethysides are a superorogenic complex flanking the Eurasian continent to the south and consisting of the Cimmerides and Alpides, products of Palaeo- and Neo-Tethys respectively. We here review their evolution, mainly on the basis of new maps showing the distribution of sutures, magmatic rocks, certain palaeobiogeographically and palaeoclimatologically significant taxa and facies, and fragments of Pan-African (900–450 Ma) orogenic system forming the basement of many Tethyside blocks. These are supplemented by palaeomagnetic data reported in the literature. A fundamental tenet of this paper is that major sutures which contain ophiolite fragments, represent tectonic sections between continental blocks where oceanic crust has been subducted. Palaeo-Tethys came into existence largely in late Carboniferous time. Coevally, it began to be consumed by both internal and peripheral subduction zones, which continued into the Permian; some of these had been inherited from pre-Tethyan times. In the later Permian, rifting subparallel with the northern margin of Gondwana Land began between the Zagros and Malaysia, separating a Cimmerian continent from N. Gondwana Land, and thus heralding the opening of Neo-Tethys and other smaller oceans that were back-arc basins of Palaeo-Tethys. This rifting possibly also extended farther west into Crete and mainland Greece. However, the North China block, Yangtze block, Huanan block, the eastern moity of the Qangtang block (North Tibet), and Annamia, all originally pieces of the end-Proterozoic-early Palaeozoic Gondwana Land, had already separated from it in pre-late Carboniferous times, possibly during the Devonian. All of these blocks, and the Cimmerian continent, were characterized by Cathaysian floral elements in late Palaeozoic time. Palaeomagnetic and palaeontological data showing the original Gondwana Land affinity of these continental blocks are supplemented by correlating late Proterozoic-early Palaeozoic Pan-African sutures, orogenic belts, and sedimentary basin fragments across Tethyside sutures. Late Permian foraminiferal provinces are related to this palaeogeographical interpretation. By Triassic times, most Cimmeride subduction zones were already in existence. The Cimmerian Continent accelerated its separation from Gondwana Land and—locally in the late Permian—began disintegrating internally along the Waser/Rushan-Pshart/Banggong Co-Nu Jiang/Mandalay ocean. By late Triassic time all of the Chinese blocks—except Lhasa-and Annamia had collided with each other and with Laurasia. The resulting enormous orogenic collage had a ‘soft cushion’ between itself and Laurasia, in the form of the enormous accretionary complex of the Songpan-Ganzi. This connection enabled Laurasian land vertebrates to reach south-east Asia by late Triassic time. In late Triassic to middle Jurassic times, most major Cimmeride collisions were completed. Widespread aridity in Central Asia occurred in late Jurassic time, probably in the rain shadow of the newly formed Cimmeride mountain wall. Neo-Tethyan subduction systems formed along the S. margin of the Cimmerides or within Neo-Tethyan oceanic lithosphere during the Jurassic. Most, if not all, were north- or east-dipping. They continued the northerly migration of the Tethyside blocks. Evolution of the Tethysides influenced the distribution of marine and terrestrial organisms, and affected sea-level changes and patterns of atmospheric circulation during much of the Mesozoic and Cainozoic. It is likely to have reflected the surface expression of a persistent trend in the large-scale convective circulation in the mantle, that continuously transported material northward into the Tethyan domain.

@article{doi101144gslsp19880370109,
    author = "Şengör, A. M. Celâl and Altıner, Demir and Cin, Altan and Ustaömer, Tı̇mur and Hsü, K. J.",
    title = "Origin and assembly of the Tethyside orogenic collage at the expense of Gondwana Land",
    year = "1988",
    journal = "Geological Society London Special Publications",
    abstract = "Abstract The Tethysides are a superorogenic complex flanking the Eurasian continent to the south and consisting of the Cimmerides and Alpides, products of Palaeo- and Neo-Tethys respectively. We here review their evolution, mainly on the basis of new maps showing the distribution of sutures, magmatic rocks, certain palaeobiogeographically and palaeoclimatologically significant taxa and facies, and fragments of Pan-African (900–450 Ma) orogenic system forming the basement of many Tethyside blocks. These are supplemented by palaeomagnetic data reported in the literature. A fundamental tenet of this paper is that major sutures which contain ophiolite fragments, represent tectonic sections between continental blocks where oceanic crust has been subducted. Palaeo-Tethys came into existence largely in late Carboniferous time. Coevally, it began to be consumed by both internal and peripheral subduction zones, which continued into the Permian; some of these had been inherited from pre-Tethyan times. In the later Permian, rifting subparallel with the northern margin of Gondwana Land began between the Zagros and Malaysia, separating a Cimmerian continent from N. Gondwana Land, and thus heralding the opening of Neo-Tethys and other smaller oceans that were back-arc basins of Palaeo-Tethys. This rifting possibly also extended farther west into Crete and mainland Greece. However, the North China block, Yangtze block, Huanan block, the eastern moity of the Qangtang block (North Tibet), and Annamia, all originally pieces of the end-Proterozoic-early Palaeozoic Gondwana Land, had already separated from it in pre-late Carboniferous times, possibly during the Devonian. All of these blocks, and the Cimmerian continent, were characterized by Cathaysian floral elements in late Palaeozoic time. Palaeomagnetic and palaeontological data showing the original Gondwana Land affinity of these continental blocks are supplemented by correlating late Proterozoic-early Palaeozoic Pan-African sutures, orogenic belts, and sedimentary basin fragments across Tethyside sutures. Late Permian foraminiferal provinces are related to this palaeogeographical interpretation. By Triassic times, most Cimmeride subduction zones were already in existence. The Cimmerian Continent accelerated its separation from Gondwana Land and—locally in the late Permian—began disintegrating internally along the Waser/Rushan-Pshart/Banggong Co-Nu Jiang/Mandalay ocean. By late Triassic time all of the Chinese blocks—except Lhasa-and Annamia had collided with each other and with Laurasia. The resulting enormous orogenic collage had a ‘soft cushion’ between itself and Laurasia, in the form of the enormous accretionary complex of the Songpan-Ganzi. This connection enabled Laurasian land vertebrates to reach south-east Asia by late Triassic time. In late Triassic to middle Jurassic times, most major Cimmeride collisions were completed. Widespread aridity in Central Asia occurred in late Jurassic time, probably in the rain shadow of the newly formed Cimmeride mountain wall. Neo-Tethyan subduction systems formed along the S. margin of the Cimmerides or within Neo-Tethyan oceanic lithosphere during the Jurassic. Most, if not all, were north- or east-dipping. They continued the northerly migration of the Tethyside blocks. Evolution of the Tethysides influenced the distribution of marine and terrestrial organisms, and affected sea-level changes and patterns of atmospheric circulation during much of the Mesozoic and Cainozoic. It is likely to have reflected the surface expression of a persistent trend in the large-scale convective circulation in the mantle, that continuously transported material northward into the Tethyan domain.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1144/gsl.sp.1988.037.01.09",
    doi = "10.1144/gsl.sp.1988.037.01.09",
    openalex = "W2088380586",
    references = "doi1010160012821x81901898, doi1010160012821x85901657, doi1010160031018282900852, doi1010160031018284900944, doi1010160198025483901334, doi101130001676061977881305lpsfis20co2, doi101139e81019, doi101144gsjgs13950605"
}

The Tibetan plateau is the product of crustal thickening caused by the collision between India and Asia and is the largest active example of extensional tectonics in a zone of continental collision. Throughout most of the Tertiary, the tectonics of the plateau were dominated by north‐south shortening, a significant proportion of which took place on east‐west striking thrust faults. For the last 5 m.y. or so the plateau has been thinning by the mechanism of extension on north‐south trending normal faults. Previous investigations of the collision have been able to account for the large‐scale features of the Tertiary deformation but have failed to explain the transition, in the late Tertiary to Quaternary strain rate field of the plateau, from north‐south compression to east‐west extension. The transition could, in principle, be effected by a reduction in the rate of convergence between India and Asia or by a uniform reduction in strength of the whole continental lithosphere of Asia. It could not, however, be effected by a reduction in strength of the elevated region alone; this produces increased compressional strain rates in the weakened zone. An alternative explanation for the transition to extension comes from considering the thermal evolution of thickened continental lithosphere. The lower part of the lithosphere consists of a thermal boundary layer which, when thickened by horizontal shortening, is colder and denser than its surroundings. Convective instability of the thickened thermal boundary layer and its replacement by hot asthenosphere would rapidly raise the surface elevation and gravitational potential energy of the overlying part of the lithosphere. The convective instability would happen in a time brief compared with the collision time scale (∼50 m.y. in the case of India and Asia) but would only occur after there had already been substantial thickening of the lithosphere. Numerical experiments show that for a range of lithospheric parameters, the increase in surface height (as much as 2 km) and of potential energy (5 to 10 × 10 12 N m −1) resulting from convective instability of the lower lithosphere are sufficient for east‐west extension to replace north‐south compression as the dominant feature of the stress field of the Tibetan plateau.

@article{doi101029jb094ib12p17561,
    author = "England, Philip and Houseman, G. A.",
    title = "Extension during continental convergence, with application to the Tibetan Plateau",
    year = "1989",
    journal = "Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres",
    abstract = "The Tibetan plateau is the product of crustal thickening caused by the collision between India and Asia and is the largest active example of extensional tectonics in a zone of continental collision. Throughout most of the Tertiary, the tectonics of the plateau were dominated by north‐south shortening, a significant proportion of which took place on east‐west striking thrust faults. For the last 5 m.y. or so the plateau has been thinning by the mechanism of extension on north‐south trending normal faults. Previous investigations of the collision have been able to account for the large‐scale features of the Tertiary deformation but have failed to explain the transition, in the late Tertiary to Quaternary strain rate field of the plateau, from north‐south compression to east‐west extension. The transition could, in principle, be effected by a reduction in the rate of convergence between India and Asia or by a uniform reduction in strength of the whole continental lithosphere of Asia. It could not, however, be effected by a reduction in strength of the elevated region alone; this produces increased compressional strain rates in the weakened zone. An alternative explanation for the transition to extension comes from considering the thermal evolution of thickened continental lithosphere. The lower part of the lithosphere consists of a thermal boundary layer which, when thickened by horizontal shortening, is colder and denser than its surroundings. Convective instability of the thickened thermal boundary layer and its replacement by hot asthenosphere would rapidly raise the surface elevation and gravitational potential energy of the overlying part of the lithosphere. The convective instability would happen in a time brief compared with the collision time scale (∼50 m.y. in the case of India and Asia) but would only occur after there had already been substantial thickening of the lithosphere. Numerical experiments show that for a range of lithospheric parameters, the increase in surface height (as much as 2 km) and of potential energy (5 to 10 × 10 12 N m −1) resulting from convective instability of the lower lithosphere are sufficient for east‐west extension to replace north‐south compression as the dominant feature of the stress field of the Tibetan plateau.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1029/jb094ib12p17561",
    doi = "10.1029/jb094ib12p17561",
    openalex = "W2103631538",
    references = "doi101029jb084ib13p07561, doi101029jb088ib02p01153, doi101029jb088ib05p04183, doi101038311615a0, doi101111j1365246x1971tb02190x, doi101130001676061986971037doowat20co2"
}

In the Appalachians, late Paleozoic Alleghanian orogenesis is widely regarded as resulting from dextral oblique collision between irregular margins of Gondwana and Laurentia. However, this relative plate motion cannot account for coeval convergence in the Ouachitas and Variscides and is incompatible with some tectonic transport indicators in the Appalachians. An alternative kinematic model is proposed in which early sinistral transpression in the Appalachians is followed by counterclockwise rotation of Gondwana and the development of a system of dextral strike-slip faults extending from southern Europe to Alabama.

@article{doi101126science25049881702,
    author = "Sacks, Paul and Secor, Donald T.",
    title = "Kinematics of Late Paleozoic Continental Collision Between Laurentia and Gondwana",
    year = "1990",
    journal = "Science",
    abstract = "In the Appalachians, late Paleozoic Alleghanian orogenesis is widely regarded as resulting from dextral oblique collision between irregular margins of Gondwana and Laurentia. However, this relative plate motion cannot account for coeval convergence in the Ouachitas and Variscides and is incompatible with some tectonic transport indicators in the Appalachians. An alternative kinematic model is proposed in which early sinistral transpression in the Appalachians is followed by counterclockwise rotation of Gondwana and the development of a system of dextral strike-slip faults extending from southern Europe to Alabama.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.250.4988.1702",
    doi = "10.1126/science.250.4988.1702",
    openalex = "W2047136988",
    references = "doi1010160040195178901403, doi1010160191814187900824, doi101029jb083ib10p04975, doi101029tc001i002p00179, doi10113000167606197586273hmffdi20co2, doi101130001676061977881305lpsfis20co2, doi1011300091761319890170564aopjit23co2, doi1011300091761319900180999dico23co2, doi101130dnaggnaf2, doi102475ajs277101233"
}

In the Appalachians, late Paleozoic Alleghanian orogenesis is widely regarded as resulting from dextral oblique collision between irregular margins of Gondwana and Laurentia. However, this relative plate motion cannot account for coeval convergence in the Ouachitas and Variscides and is incompatible with some tectonic transport indicators in the Appalachians. An alternative kinematic model is proposed in which early sinistral transpression in the Appalachians is followed by counterclockwise rotation of Gondwana and the development of a system of dextral strike-slip faults extending from southern Europe to Alabama.

@article{sacks1990kinematics,
    author = "Sacks, Paul E. and Secor, Donald T.",
    title = "Kinematics of Late Paleozoic Continental Collision Between Laurentia and Gondwana",
    year = "1990",
    journal = "Science",
    abstract = "In the Appalachians, late Paleozoic Alleghanian orogenesis is widely regarded as resulting from dextral oblique collision between irregular margins of Gondwana and Laurentia. However, this relative plate motion cannot account for coeval convergence in the Ouachitas and Variscides and is incompatible with some tectonic transport indicators in the Appalachians. An alternative kinematic model is proposed in which early sinistral transpression in the Appalachians is followed by counterclockwise rotation of Gondwana and the development of a system of dextral strike-slip faults extending from southern Europe to Alabama.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.250.4988.1702",
    doi = "10.1126/science.250.4988.1702",
    number = "4988",
    openalex = "W2047136988",
    pages = "1702-1705",
    volume = "250",
    references = "doi1010160040195178901403, doi1010160191814187900824, doi101029jb083ib10p04975, doi101029tc001i002p00179, doi10113000167606197586273hmffdi20co2, doi101130001676061977881305lpsfis20co2, doi1011300091761319890170564aopjit23co2, doi1011300091761319900180999dico23co2, doi101130dnaggnaf2, doi102475ajs277101233"
}

@misc{sacks1990kinematics1,
    author = "Sacks, P. E. and Secor, D. T. and Jr",
    title = "Kinematics of Late Paleozoic continental collision between Laurentia and Gondwana",
    year = "1990",
    howpublished = "Science, v. 250, no. 4988, p. 1702-1705",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Sacks, P. E., and Secor, D. T., Jr., 1990, Kinematics of Late Paleozoic continental collision between Laurentia and Gondwana: Science, v. 250, no. 4988, p. 1702-1705.}"
}

Some of the most important, rapid, and enigmatic changes in our Earth’s environment and biota occurred during the Neoproterozoic Era (1000540 million years ago; Ma). Paramount among these changes are the rapid evolution of eukaryotes and appearance of metazoa (Knoll 1992, Conway Morris 1993), major episodes of continental glaciation that may have extended to low latitudes (Hambrey & Harland 1985), marked increases in the oxygen concentration of the atmosphere and hydrosphere (Derry et al 1992), the reappearance of sedimentary banded iron formations (BIF; James 1983), and striking temporal variations in the isotopic composition of C and Sr (Asmerom et al 1991, Derry et al 1992). Understanding the causes of and relationships between these changes is a challenging focus of interdisciplinary research, and there are compelling indications that the most important causes were tectonic (Des Marais et al 1992, Veevers 1990). For example, development of ocean basins may have been accompanied by the development of seafloor hydrothermal systems, which lowered the 87Sr/S6Sr of seawater, led to the development of BIF, and formed anoxic basins where organic carbon could be buried, thus leading to an increase in O~. Continental collision and formation of a supercontinent may have led to continental glaciation and an increase in the 87Sr/86Sr of seawater,

@article{doi101146annurevea22050194001535,
    author = "Stern, Robert J.",
    title = "ARC ASSEMBLY AND CONTINENTAL COLLISION IN THE NEOPROTEROZOIC EAST AFRICAN OROGEN: Implications for the Consolidation of Gondwanaland",
    year = "1994",
    journal = "Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences",
    abstract = "Some of the most important, rapid, and enigmatic changes in our Earth’s environment and biota occurred during the Neoproterozoic Era (1000540 million years ago; Ma). Paramount among these changes are the rapid evolution of eukaryotes and appearance of metazoa (Knoll 1992, Conway Morris 1993), major episodes of continental glaciation that may have extended to low latitudes (Hambrey \& Harland 1985), marked increases in the oxygen concentration of the atmosphere and hydrosphere (Derry et al 1992), the reappearance of sedimentary banded iron formations (BIF; James 1983), and striking temporal variations in the isotopic composition of C and Sr (Asmerom et al 1991, Derry et al 1992). Understanding the causes of and relationships between these changes is a challenging focus of interdisciplinary research, and there are compelling indications that the most important causes were tectonic (Des Marais et al 1992, Veevers 1990). For example, development of ocean basins may have been accompanied by the development of seafloor hydrothermal systems, which lowered the 87Sr/S6Sr of seawater, led to the development of BIF, and formed anoxic basins where organic carbon could be buried, thus leading to an increase in O\textasciitilde . Continental collision and formation of a supercontinent may have led to continental glaciation and an increase in the 87Sr/86Sr of seawater,",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ea.22.050194.001535",
    doi = "10.1146/annurev.ea.22.050194.001535",
    openalex = "W2174216460"
}

@article{doi1010160012825296000086,
    author = "Torsvik, Trond H. and Smethurst, Mark A. and Meert, Joseph G. and VANDERVOO, R and McKerrow, W. S. and Brasier, M and Sturt, B. A. and Walderhaug, Harald",
    title = "Continental break-up and collision in the Neoproterozoic and Palaeozoic — A tale of Baltica and Laurentia",
    year = "1996",
    journal = "Earth-Science Reviews",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/0012-8252(96)00008-6",
    doi = "10.1016/0012-8252(96)00008-6",
    openalex = "W2063011872",
    references = "doi1010160012821x84900177, doi101038211676a0, doi101038332695a0, doi102307634028, openalexw353142951"
}

The area occupied by the Variscan belt of central Europe forms part of Gondwana‐derived microplates (essentially Avalonia and Armorica) that, according to paleomagnetic data, juxtaposed Baltica and Laurentia from the Upper Ordovician to the Lower Devonian. The actual structure of this area is a puzzle of rather small fault‐bounded crustal blocks, different in P‐T‐t‐histories, which was created by later tectonic processes, at around 360 to 320 Ma. According to a common view and by contrast to paleomagnetic data, the structural record of fault‐bounded blocks is interpreted in terms of Mid‐Devonian to Lower Carboniferous amalgamation of narrow continental plates represented by the fault‐bounded blocks themselves. However, this is not supported in this article. Instead, it will be shown that fault‐systems and fault‐bounded blocks were created by intraplate deformation of a weak domain of Gondwana‐derived continental lithosphere, significantly after its accretion. Deformation was partitioned into newly formed deep‐seated strike‐slip and (kinematically connected) reverse or normal detachment systems. Large translation magnitudes caused juxtaposition of crustal areas of variable thickness. Until they were emplaced along the fault systems, the various categories of fault‐bounded complexes record different tectonic events. Category 1 metamorphic complexes represent deep‐seated parts of thickened crust, some time before unroofing on the detachment systems between about 340 (360) and 320 Ma. However, the record of subduction and extreme crustal thickening during earlier stages of the collision history was erased to a high degree and is only preserved by mineral and structural relics. Strike‐slip and detachment systems propagated across and dismembered tectonic boundaries, formed during these early events. Category 2 metamorphic complexes and the Barrandian Basin recording predominant pre‐Late Devonian metamorphic or stratigraphic events represent the brittle upper crustal parts during continuing metamorphism in the category 1 complexes. Weakly or unmetamorphosed lower Paleozoic category 3 basins represent areas of thinned continental crust and record subsidence before, and to some degree, during activity of detachment systems. The complex overall kinematic pattern of block‐bounding strike‐slip and detachment systems indicates compression and extension acting simultaneously. This probably reflects the effects of continuing oblique plate convergence, rotation, and WSW‐extrusion of fault bounded blocks, in addition to heating, and extensional flow of previously thickened crustal areas.

@article{doi10102996tc01110,
    author = "Krohe, A.",
    title = "Variscan tectonics of central Europe: Postaccretionary intraplate deformation of weak continental lithosphere",
    year = "1996",
    journal = "Tectonics",
    abstract = "The area occupied by the Variscan belt of central Europe forms part of Gondwana‐derived microplates (essentially Avalonia and Armorica) that, according to paleomagnetic data, juxtaposed Baltica and Laurentia from the Upper Ordovician to the Lower Devonian. The actual structure of this area is a puzzle of rather small fault‐bounded crustal blocks, different in P‐T‐t‐histories, which was created by later tectonic processes, at around 360 to 320 Ma. According to a common view and by contrast to paleomagnetic data, the structural record of fault‐bounded blocks is interpreted in terms of Mid‐Devonian to Lower Carboniferous amalgamation of narrow continental plates represented by the fault‐bounded blocks themselves. However, this is not supported in this article. Instead, it will be shown that fault‐systems and fault‐bounded blocks were created by intraplate deformation of a weak domain of Gondwana‐derived continental lithosphere, significantly after its accretion. Deformation was partitioned into newly formed deep‐seated strike‐slip and (kinematically connected) reverse or normal detachment systems. Large translation magnitudes caused juxtaposition of crustal areas of variable thickness. Until they were emplaced along the fault systems, the various categories of fault‐bounded complexes record different tectonic events. Category 1 metamorphic complexes represent deep‐seated parts of thickened crust, some time before unroofing on the detachment systems between about 340 (360) and 320 Ma. However, the record of subduction and extreme crustal thickening during earlier stages of the collision history was erased to a high degree and is only preserved by mineral and structural relics. Strike‐slip and detachment systems propagated across and dismembered tectonic boundaries, formed during these early events. Category 2 metamorphic complexes and the Barrandian Basin recording predominant pre‐Late Devonian metamorphic or stratigraphic events represent the brittle upper crustal parts during continuing metamorphism in the category 1 complexes. Weakly or unmetamorphosed lower Paleozoic category 3 basins represent areas of thinned continental crust and record subsidence before, and to some degree, during activity of detachment systems. The complex overall kinematic pattern of block‐bounding strike‐slip and detachment systems indicates compression and extension acting simultaneously. This probably reflects the effects of continuing oblique plate convergence, rotation, and WSW‐extrusion of fault bounded blocks, in addition to heating, and extensional flow of previously thickened crustal areas.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1029/96tc01110",
    doi = "10.1029/96tc01110",
    openalex = "W1996690871",
    references = "doi1010160191814184900014, doi101029jb088ib02p01153, doi101029jb091ib03p03664, doi101029tc007i006p01123, doi101130001676061986971037doowat20co2, doi1011300016760619881001666ssf23co2, doi101144gslmem19900120101, doi101144gslsp19860190107, doi102110pec85370211, doi102110pec85370227"
}

Abstract Saxo-Thuringia is classified as a tectonostratigraphic terrane belonging to the Armorican Terrane Collage (Cadomia). As a former part of the Avalonian-Cadomian Orogenic Belt, it became (after Cadomian orogenic events, rift-related Cambro-Ordovician geodynamic processes and a northward drift within Late Ordovician to Early Silurian times), during Late Devonian to Early Carboniferous continent-continent collision, a part of the Central European Variscides. By making use of single zircon geochronology, geochemistry and basin analysis, geological processes were reconstructed from latest Neoproterozoic to Ordovician time: (1) 660–540 Ma: subduction, back-arc sedimentation and tectonomagmatic activity in a Cadomian continental island-arc setting marginal to Gondwana; (2) 540 Ma: obduction and deformation of the island arc and marginal basins; (3) 540–530 Ma: widespread plutonism related to the obduction-related Cadomian heating event and crustal extension; (4) 530–500 Ma: transform margin regime connected with strike-slip generated formation of Early to Mid-Cambrian pull-apart basins; (5) 500–490 Ma: Late Cambrian uplift and formation of a chemical weathering crust; (6) 490–470 Ma: Ordovician rift setting with related sedimentation regime and intense igneous activity; (7) 440–435 Ma: division from Gondwana and start of northward drift. The West African and the Amazonian Cratons of Gondwana, as well as parts of Brittany, were singled out by a study of inherited and detrital zircons as potential source areas in the hinterland of Saxo-Thuringia.

@article{doi101144gslsp20001790110,
    author = "Linnemann, Ulf and Gehmlich, Michael and Tichomirowa, Marion and Buschmann, Bernd and Nasdala, Lutz and Jonas, Peter and Lützner, Harald and Bombach, Klaus",
    title = "From Cadomian subduction to Early Palaeozoic rifting: the evolution of Saxo-Thuringia at the margin of Gondwana in the light of single zircon geochronology and basin development (Central European Variscides, Germany)",
    year = "2000",
    journal = "Geological Society London Special Publications",
    abstract = "Abstract Saxo-Thuringia is classified as a tectonostratigraphic terrane belonging to the Armorican Terrane Collage (Cadomia). As a former part of the Avalonian-Cadomian Orogenic Belt, it became (after Cadomian orogenic events, rift-related Cambro-Ordovician geodynamic processes and a northward drift within Late Ordovician to Early Silurian times), during Late Devonian to Early Carboniferous continent-continent collision, a part of the Central European Variscides. By making use of single zircon geochronology, geochemistry and basin analysis, geological processes were reconstructed from latest Neoproterozoic to Ordovician time: (1) 660–540 Ma: subduction, back-arc sedimentation and tectonomagmatic activity in a Cadomian continental island-arc setting marginal to Gondwana; (2) 540 Ma: obduction and deformation of the island arc and marginal basins; (3) 540–530 Ma: widespread plutonism related to the obduction-related Cadomian heating event and crustal extension; (4) 530–500 Ma: transform margin regime connected with strike-slip generated formation of Early to Mid-Cambrian pull-apart basins; (5) 500–490 Ma: Late Cambrian uplift and formation of a chemical weathering crust; (6) 490–470 Ma: Ordovician rift setting with related sedimentation regime and intense igneous activity; (7) 440–435 Ma: division from Gondwana and start of northward drift. The West African and the Amazonian Cratons of Gondwana, as well as parts of Brittany, were singled out by a study of inherited and detrital zircons as potential source areas in the hinterland of Saxo-Thuringia.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1144/gsl.sp.2000.179.01.10",
    doi = "10.1144/gsl.sp.2000.179.01.10",
    openalex = "W2020836340"
}

The concept of ‘Gondwana’, an ancient Southern Hemisphere supercontinent, is firmly established in geological and biogeographical models of Earth history. The term Gondwana (Gondwanaland of some authors) derives from the recognition by workers at the Indian Geological Survey in the mid- to late 19th century of a distinctive sedimentary sequence preserved in east central India. This succession, now known to range in age from Permian to Cretaceous, is lithologically and palaeontologically similar to coeval non-marine sedimentary successions developed in most of the Southern Hemisphere continents suggesting former continuity of these landmasses. Palaeomagnetic data and tectonic reconstructions suggest that the main assembly of Gondwana took place around the beginning of the Palaeozoic in near-equatorial latitudes and that the supercontinent as a whole shifted into high southern latitudes, allowing widespread glaciation by the end of the Carboniferous. From Carboniferous to Cretaceous times the southern continents had broadly similar floras but some species-level provincialism is apparent at all times. The break-up of Gondwana initiated during the Jurassic (at about 180 million years ago) and this process is continuing. The earliest rifting (crustal attenuation) within the supercontinent initiated in the west (between South America and Africa) and in general terms the rifting pattern propagated eastward with major phases of continental fragmentation in the Early Cretaceous and Late Cretaceous to Paleogene. Gondwanan floras show radical turnovers near the end of the Carboniferous, end of the Permian and the end of the Triassic that appear to be unrelated to isolation or fragmentation of the supercontinent. Throughout the late Palaeozoic and Mesozoic the high-latitude southern floras maintained a distinctly different composition to the palaeoequatorial and boreal regions even though they remained in physical connection with Laurasia for much of this time. Gondwanan floras of the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous (times immediately preceding and during break-up) were dominated by araucarian and podocarp conifers and a range of enigmatic seed-fern groups. Angiosperms became established in the region as early as the Aptian (before the final break-up events) and steadily diversified during the Cretaceous, apparently at the expense of many seed-fern groups. Hypotheses invoking vicariance or long distance dispersal to account for the biogeographic patterns evident in the floras of Southern Hemisphere continents all rely on a firm understanding of the timing and sequence of Gondwanan continental breakup. This paper aims to summarise the current understanding of the geochronological framework of Gondwanan breakup against which these biogeographic models may be tested. Most phytogeographic studies deal with the extant, angiosperm-dominated floras of these landmasses. This paper also presents an overview of pre-Cenozoic, gymnosperm-dominated, floristic provincialism in Gondwana. It documents the broad succession of pre-angiosperm floras, highlights the distinctive elements of the Early Cretaceous Gondwanan floras immediately preceding the appearance of angiosperms and suggests that latitudinal controls strongly influenced the composition of Gondwanan floras through time even in the absence of marine barriers between Gondwana and the northern continents.

@article{doi101071bt00023,
    author = "McLoughlin, Stephen",
    title = "The breakup history of Gondwana and its impact on pre-Cenozoic floristic provincialism",
    year = "2001",
    journal = "Australian Journal of Botany",
    abstract = "The concept of ‘Gondwana’, an ancient Southern Hemisphere supercontinent, is firmly established in geological and biogeographical models of Earth history. The term Gondwana (Gondwanaland of some authors) derives from the recognition by workers at the Indian Geological Survey in the mid- to late 19th century of a distinctive sedimentary sequence preserved in east central India. This succession, now known to range in age from Permian to Cretaceous, is lithologically and palaeontologically similar to coeval non-marine sedimentary successions developed in most of the Southern Hemisphere continents suggesting former continuity of these landmasses. Palaeomagnetic data and tectonic reconstructions suggest that the main assembly of Gondwana took place around the beginning of the Palaeozoic in near-equatorial latitudes and that the supercontinent as a whole shifted into high southern latitudes, allowing widespread glaciation by the end of the Carboniferous. From Carboniferous to Cretaceous times the southern continents had broadly similar floras but some species-level provincialism is apparent at all times. The break-up of Gondwana initiated during the Jurassic (at about 180 million years ago) and this process is continuing. The earliest rifting (crustal attenuation) within the supercontinent initiated in the west (between South America and Africa) and in general terms the rifting pattern propagated eastward with major phases of continental fragmentation in the Early Cretaceous and Late Cretaceous to Paleogene. Gondwanan floras show radical turnovers near the end of the Carboniferous, end of the Permian and the end of the Triassic that appear to be unrelated to isolation or fragmentation of the supercontinent. Throughout the late Palaeozoic and Mesozoic the high-latitude southern floras maintained a distinctly different composition to the palaeoequatorial and boreal regions even though they remained in physical connection with Laurasia for much of this time. Gondwanan floras of the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous (times immediately preceding and during break-up) were dominated by araucarian and podocarp conifers and a range of enigmatic seed-fern groups. Angiosperms became established in the region as early as the Aptian (before the final break-up events) and steadily diversified during the Cretaceous, apparently at the expense of many seed-fern groups. Hypotheses invoking vicariance or long distance dispersal to account for the biogeographic patterns evident in the floras of Southern Hemisphere continents all rely on a firm understanding of the timing and sequence of Gondwanan continental breakup. This paper aims to summarise the current understanding of the geochronological framework of Gondwanan breakup against which these biogeographic models may be tested. Most phytogeographic studies deal with the extant, angiosperm-dominated floras of these landmasses. This paper also presents an overview of pre-Cenozoic, gymnosperm-dominated, floristic provincialism in Gondwana. It documents the broad succession of pre-angiosperm floras, highlights the distinctive elements of the Early Cretaceous Gondwanan floras immediately preceding the appearance of angiosperms and suggests that latitudinal controls strongly influenced the composition of Gondwanan floras through time even in the absence of marine barriers between Gondwana and the northern continents.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1071/bt00023",
    doi = "10.1071/bt00023",
    openalex = "W1860957168",
    references = "crossref1974the, doi101007bf02860537, doi1010160012821x89900186, doi1010160031018284900373, doi1010160034666776900531, doi1010160034666782900410, doi101017s0016756800008268, doi10102993pa03266, doi101029gm032, doi101038230042a0, doi101038333547a0, doi10108003115517708527763, doi101080037362451938105591187, doi101111j150239311987tb02026x, doi10113000167606198798475lpgeig20co2, doi1011300091761319950230407scirpo23co2, doi101130spe195p1, doi101144gslmem19900120101, doi102973dsdpproc291171975, doi105962bhltitle118957, openalexw1549706842, openalexw2135985426"
}

Continental crust (density ~2.8 g·cm-3) resists subduction into the earth's mantle (~3.3 g·cm-3) because of buoyancy. However, more than 20 recognized ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) terranes have been documented; these occurrences demonstrate that not only is continental crust subducted to depths as great as 150 km, but also that some supracrustal rocks were then exhumed to the earth's surface. UHP terranes are composed of mainly supracrustal rocks that contain minor amounts of minerals such as coesite or diamond, indicative of P > 2.5 GPa. In general, quartzofeldspathic units are thoroughly back reacted, and only mafic eclogite lenses and boudins retain scattered UHP phases. These index minerals are restricted to micron-scale inclusions in chemically and mechanically resistant zircon, garnet, and a few other strong container minerals, and are difficult to identify by conventional petrologic studies. The continental rocks were subjected to UHP metamorphism at T ranging from ~700 to 950°C and P > 2.8 to 5.0 GPa, corresponding to depths of ~100 to 150 km. These UHP units were subsequently exhumed to crustal depths and subjected to intense hydration and amphibolite-facies overprint. Widespread Barrovian-type metamorphism in many collisional orogens may mask an earlier, higher-pressure metamorphic history. We suspect that coesite-bearing UHP rocks were once generated in the majority of exhumed collisional orogens. The recent finding of coesite inclusions in rare Himalayan eclogites and country rock gneisses is a typical example. We use the Himalayan model to illustrate UHP metamorphism and subduction of continental crustal rocks to mantle depths and later Barrovian-type overprint during exhumation. Himalayan UHP eclogites and adjacent gneisses were formed at mantle depths > 100 km at 46 to 52 Ma. These rocks were exhumed to crustal depths and subjected to Barrovian amphibolite- to granulite-facies metamorphism; associated magmatism occurred at 30 to 15 Ma. The Himalayan metamorphic belt was domally uplifted and the mountain-building process initiated since 11 Ma, when underthrusting of the Indian tectosphere beneath the Lesser Himalayas occurred.

@article{doi102747002068144611,
    author = "Liou, J. G. and Tsujimori, Tatsuki and Zhang, R. Y. and Katayama, Ikuo and Maruyama, Shigenori",
    title = "Global UHP Metamorphism and Continental Subduction/Collision: The Himalayan Model",
    year = "2004",
    journal = "International Geology Review",
    abstract = "Continental crust (density \textasciitilde 2.8 g·cm-3) resists subduction into the earth's mantle (\textasciitilde 3.3 g·cm-3) because of buoyancy. However, more than 20 recognized ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) terranes have been documented; these occurrences demonstrate that not only is continental crust subducted to depths as great as 150 km, but also that some supracrustal rocks were then exhumed to the earth's surface. UHP terranes are composed of mainly supracrustal rocks that contain minor amounts of minerals such as coesite or diamond, indicative of P > 2.5 GPa. In general, quartzofeldspathic units are thoroughly back reacted, and only mafic eclogite lenses and boudins retain scattered UHP phases. These index minerals are restricted to micron-scale inclusions in chemically and mechanically resistant zircon, garnet, and a few other strong container minerals, and are difficult to identify by conventional petrologic studies. The continental rocks were subjected to UHP metamorphism at T ranging from \textasciitilde 700 to 950°C and P > 2.8 to 5.0 GPa, corresponding to depths of \textasciitilde 100 to 150 km. These UHP units were subsequently exhumed to crustal depths and subjected to intense hydration and amphibolite-facies overprint. Widespread Barrovian-type metamorphism in many collisional orogens may mask an earlier, higher-pressure metamorphic history. We suspect that coesite-bearing UHP rocks were once generated in the majority of exhumed collisional orogens. The recent finding of coesite inclusions in rare Himalayan eclogites and country rock gneisses is a typical example. We use the Himalayan model to illustrate UHP metamorphism and subduction of continental crustal rocks to mantle depths and later Barrovian-type overprint during exhumation. Himalayan UHP eclogites and adjacent gneisses were formed at mantle depths > 100 km at 46 to 52 Ma. These rocks were exhumed to crustal depths and subjected to Barrovian amphibolite- to granulite-facies metamorphism; associated magmatism occurred at 30 to 15 Ma. The Himalayan metamorphic belt was domally uplifted and the mountain-building process initiated since 11 Ma, when underthrusting of the Indian tectosphere beneath the Lesser Himalayas occurred.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.2747/0020-6814.46.1.1",
    doi = "10.2747/0020-6814.46.1.1",
    openalex = "W2031255348",
    references = "doi10112709351221200100130565"
}

Abstract It is now accepted that southern South America was formed from several terranes of diverse origin and evolution. However, a detailed history of the accretionary processes has not been unravelled yet. Palaeomagnetism can play an important role in such an endeavour. Palaeomagnetic constraints on the tectonic evolution of this region in the Proterozoic and Palaeozoic are reviewed and discussed. Data from the Rio de la Plata craton suggest that this block was already attached to most major Gondwana blocks by the end of the Proterozoic and may have formed a single continental mass with Congo-Sao Francisco, West Nile and Arabia throughout most of the Vendian. A large ocean separating these cratons from Amazonia and West Africa, prior to Gondwana assembly, is supported by available palaeomagnetic data. To the west of the Rio de la Plata craton is the Pampia terrane. Despite lack of palaeomagnetic data, geological evidence supports a model of Early Cambrian collision between these blocks. An Early Ordovician magmatic arc, the Famatina-Eastern Puna belt, which had developed on the western margin of the already accreted Pampia terrane, shows a systematic pattern of large clockwise rotation that has been interpreted as representative of the whole terrane. The favoured tectonic model portrays a continental magmatic arc with a back-arc basin to the east that was closed when the terrane rotated. There is little doubt of a Laurentian origin for the Cuyania (Precordillera) terrane, given the amount and diversity of evidence, including palaeomagnetism. The tectonic mechanism for accretion and its timing are still controversial. New palaeomagnetic data from Late Ordovician rocks of Cuyania support the ‘Laurentian plateau’ hypothesis, which suggests that Cuyania was still linked to Laurentia well into the Ordovician. Nevertheless, these new data do not rule out the more generally favoured ‘microcontinent model’. To the west of Cuyania is the Chilenia terrane, separated by a belt of ophiolites of Late Ordovician age. Very little is known about this terrane, although some U-Pb ages and Nd model ages point to a Laurentian origin for its basement. Lack of palaeomagnetic data precludes determining its kinematic evolution. The Arequipa-Antofalla block may actually be a composite terrane. Palaeomagnetic data obtained so far come exclusively from the southern Antofalla block. Recently acquired data in the western Puna of Argentina confirm the originally proposed distribution of Early Palaeozoic palaeomagnetic poles, which, despite several uncertainties, delineate a pattern of significant counterclockwise rotations with a possible anomaly in palaeolatitude for the late Cambrian. The data suggest a major tectonic discontinuity between the Eastern and Western Puna of Argentina in the Early Palaeozoic. Four palaeomagnetic poles of Devonian to Permian age from the North Patagonian Massif are consistent in position and age with the Gondwana apparent polar wander path, suggesting that both continental masses have not experienced major relative displacement since the Devonian. The data do not, however, rule out a restricted separation of Patagonia orthogonal to its northern boundary in the Early or Middle Palaeozoic and subsequent collision in the Late Palaeozoic.

@article{doi101144gslsp20052460112,
    author = "Rapalini, Augusto E.",
    title = "The accretionary history of southern South America from the latest Proterozoic to the Late Palaeozoic: some palaeomagnetic constraints",
    year = "2005",
    journal = "Geological Society London Special Publications",
    abstract = "Abstract It is now accepted that southern South America was formed from several terranes of diverse origin and evolution. However, a detailed history of the accretionary processes has not been unravelled yet. Palaeomagnetism can play an important role in such an endeavour. Palaeomagnetic constraints on the tectonic evolution of this region in the Proterozoic and Palaeozoic are reviewed and discussed. Data from the Rio de la Plata craton suggest that this block was already attached to most major Gondwana blocks by the end of the Proterozoic and may have formed a single continental mass with Congo-Sao Francisco, West Nile and Arabia throughout most of the Vendian. A large ocean separating these cratons from Amazonia and West Africa, prior to Gondwana assembly, is supported by available palaeomagnetic data. To the west of the Rio de la Plata craton is the Pampia terrane. Despite lack of palaeomagnetic data, geological evidence supports a model of Early Cambrian collision between these blocks. An Early Ordovician magmatic arc, the Famatina-Eastern Puna belt, which had developed on the western margin of the already accreted Pampia terrane, shows a systematic pattern of large clockwise rotation that has been interpreted as representative of the whole terrane. The favoured tectonic model portrays a continental magmatic arc with a back-arc basin to the east that was closed when the terrane rotated. There is little doubt of a Laurentian origin for the Cuyania (Precordillera) terrane, given the amount and diversity of evidence, including palaeomagnetism. The tectonic mechanism for accretion and its timing are still controversial. New palaeomagnetic data from Late Ordovician rocks of Cuyania support the ‘Laurentian plateau’ hypothesis, which suggests that Cuyania was still linked to Laurentia well into the Ordovician. Nevertheless, these new data do not rule out the more generally favoured ‘microcontinent model’. To the west of Cuyania is the Chilenia terrane, separated by a belt of ophiolites of Late Ordovician age. Very little is known about this terrane, although some U-Pb ages and Nd model ages point to a Laurentian origin for its basement. Lack of palaeomagnetic data precludes determining its kinematic evolution. The Arequipa-Antofalla block may actually be a composite terrane. Palaeomagnetic data obtained so far come exclusively from the southern Antofalla block. Recently acquired data in the western Puna of Argentina confirm the originally proposed distribution of Early Palaeozoic palaeomagnetic poles, which, despite several uncertainties, delineate a pattern of significant counterclockwise rotations with a possible anomaly in palaeolatitude for the late Cambrian. The data suggest a major tectonic discontinuity between the Eastern and Western Puna of Argentina in the Early Palaeozoic. Four palaeomagnetic poles of Devonian to Permian age from the North Patagonian Massif are consistent in position and age with the Gondwana apparent polar wander path, suggesting that both continental masses have not experienced major relative displacement since the Devonian. The data do not, however, rule out a restricted separation of Patagonia orthogonal to its northern boundary in the Early or Middle Palaeozoic and subsequent collision in the Late Palaeozoic.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1144/gsl.sp.2005.246.01.12",
    doi = "10.1144/gsl.sp.2005.246.01.12",
    openalex = "W2169108868",
    references = "doi1010160012821x84900177, doi1010160012825282900423, doi101016004019519090116p, doi101016s0040195102006297, doi101016s0040195103003421, doi101029tc005i006p00855, doi101126science25250111409, doi1011300016760619971090016onpgat23co2, doi1018814epiiugs1988v11i3003, doi104067s071602082000000200006"
}

The GPS‐derived velocity field (1988–2005) for the zone of interaction of the Arabian, African (Nubian, Somalian), and Eurasian plates indicates counterclockwise rotation of a broad area of the Earth's surface including the Arabian plate, adjacent parts of the Zagros and central Iran, Turkey, and the Aegean/Peloponnesus relative to Eurasia at rates in the range of 20–30 mm/yr. This relatively rapid motion occurs within the framework of the slow‐moving (∼5 mm/yr relative motions) Eurasian, Nubian, and Somalian plates. The circulatory pattern of motion increases in rate toward the Hellenic trench system. We develop an elastic block model to constrain present‐day plate motions (relative Euler vectors), regional deformation within the interplate zone, and slip rates for major faults. Substantial areas of continental lithosphere within the region of plate interaction show coherent motion with internal deformations below ∼1–2 mm/yr, including central and eastern Anatolia (Turkey), the southwestern Aegean/Peloponnesus, the Lesser Caucasus, and Central Iran. Geodetic slip rates for major block‐bounding structures are mostly comparable to geologic rates estimated for the most recent geological period (∼3–5 Myr). We find that the convergence of Arabia with Eurasia is accommodated in large part by lateral transport within the interior part of the collision zone and lithospheric shortening along the Caucasus and Zagros mountain belts around the periphery of the collision zone. In addition, we find that the principal boundary between the westerly moving Anatolian plate and Arabia (East Anatolian fault) is presently characterized by pure left‐lateral strike slip with no fault‐normal convergence. This implies that “extrusion” is not presently inducing westward motion of Anatolia. On the basis of the observed kinematics, we hypothesize that deformation in the Africa‐Arabia‐Eurasia collision zone is driven in large part by rollback of the subducting African lithosphere beneath the Hellenic and Cyprus trenches aided by slab pull on the southeastern side of the subducting Arabian plate along the Makran subduction zone. We further suggest that the separation of Arabia from Africa is a response to plate motions induced by active subduction.

@article{doi1010292005jb004051,
    author = "Reilinger, Robert and McClusky, S. and Vernant, Philippe and Lawrence, Shawn and Ergintav, Semih and Çakmak, R. and Özener, Haluk and Kadirov, Fakhraddin and Guliev, I. S. and Stepanyan, Ruben and Nadariya, M. and Hahubia, Galaktion and Mahmoud, Salah and Sakr, Kamal and ArRajehi, Abdullah and Paradissis, Demitris and Al‐Aydrus, A. and Prilepin, Mikhail Tikhonovich and Гусева, Т.В. and Evren, Emre and Dmitrotsa, A. I. and Filikov, S. V. and Gomez, Francisco and Al-Ghazzi, R. and Karam, Gebran N.",
    title = "GPS constraints on continental deformation in the Africa‐Arabia‐Eurasia continental collision zone and implications for the dynamics of plate interactions",
    year = "2006",
    journal = "Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres",
    abstract = "The GPS‐derived velocity field (1988–2005) for the zone of interaction of the Arabian, African (Nubian, Somalian), and Eurasian plates indicates counterclockwise rotation of a broad area of the Earth's surface including the Arabian plate, adjacent parts of the Zagros and central Iran, Turkey, and the Aegean/Peloponnesus relative to Eurasia at rates in the range of 20–30 mm/yr. This relatively rapid motion occurs within the framework of the slow‐moving (∼5 mm/yr relative motions) Eurasian, Nubian, and Somalian plates. The circulatory pattern of motion increases in rate toward the Hellenic trench system. We develop an elastic block model to constrain present‐day plate motions (relative Euler vectors), regional deformation within the interplate zone, and slip rates for major faults. Substantial areas of continental lithosphere within the region of plate interaction show coherent motion with internal deformations below ∼1–2 mm/yr, including central and eastern Anatolia (Turkey), the southwestern Aegean/Peloponnesus, the Lesser Caucasus, and Central Iran. Geodetic slip rates for major block‐bounding structures are mostly comparable to geologic rates estimated for the most recent geological period (∼3–5 Myr). We find that the convergence of Arabia with Eurasia is accommodated in large part by lateral transport within the interior part of the collision zone and lithospheric shortening along the Caucasus and Zagros mountain belts around the periphery of the collision zone. In addition, we find that the principal boundary between the westerly moving Anatolian plate and Arabia (East Anatolian fault) is presently characterized by pure left‐lateral strike slip with no fault‐normal convergence. This implies that “extrusion” is not presently inducing westward motion of Anatolia. On the basis of the observed kinematics, we hypothesize that deformation in the Africa‐Arabia‐Eurasia collision zone is driven in large part by rollback of the subducting African lithosphere beneath the Hellenic and Cyprus trenches aided by slab pull on the southeastern side of the subducting Arabian plate along the Makran subduction zone. We further suggest that the separation of Arabia from Africa is a response to plate motions induced by active subduction.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1029/2005jb004051",
    doi = "10.1029/2005jb004051",
    openalex = "W1981165981",
    references = "doi1010160040195181902754, doi1010291999jb900351, doi1010292000jb000033, doi1010292002jb001862, doi10102994gl02118, doi10102995eo00198, doi10102995jb00317, doi10102996jb03736, doi101029jb073i018p05855, doi101038226239a0, doi101111j1365246x1972tb02351x, doi101111j1365246x1990tb06579x, doi101111j1365246x1996tb05264x, doi101126science105978, doi101126science1894201419, doi101126science29054981910, doi10113000917613198210611petian20co2, doi101146annurevearth32101802120415, doi101146annurevearth33092203122711, doi101785bssa0750041135, doi102110pec85370211, doi102110pec85370227, openalexw304861154"
}

@article{doi101016jearscirev201109001,
    author = "Han, Bao‐Fu and He, Guoqi and Wang, Xuechao and Guo, Zhaojie",
    title = "Late Carboniferous collision between the Tarim and Kazakhstan–Yili terranes in the western segment of the South Tian Shan Orogen, Central Asia, and implications for the Northern Xinjiang, western China",
    year = "2011",
    journal = "Earth-Science Reviews",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2011.09.001",
    doi = "10.1016/j.earscirev.2011.09.001",
    openalex = "W1976304054",
    references = "doi1010160012821x9400237s, doi1010160040195193902259, doi101016jearscirev200405001, doi101016jearscirev200505004, doi101016jjseaes200603001, doi101016s0301926802002188, doi101016s1367912003001305, doi10102992jb01963, doi101029gd021, doi101038364299a0, doi101046j15251314200000266x, doi101111j175567242001tb00511x, doi1011270078042120120020, doi1011300091761319900180999dico23co2, doi101130ges001051, doi101144001676492006022, doi101146annurevearth281211, doi1018814epiiugs2000v23i2001, openalexw2912219260"
}

The southwestern Gondwana basement block configuration in the central Argentinean offshore area was analyzed using gravimetric, magnetic and seismic data and existing onshore tectonic models. The resultant maps, the distribution of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic basins and Paleozoic structural features were used to validate the interpretations and to produce a new regional tectonic model. Pre-Carboniferous southwestern Gondwana of South America was interpreted as an open margin formed from east to west by the Dom Feliciano Belt, the Río de la Plata Craton, the Pampean Belt and the Pampia and Cuyania terranes. The collision of the Patagonia allochthonous terrane during the Late Paleozoic resulted in the development of the Ventania-Cape Fold Belt, which was mapped for the first time off the Argentinean coast out to 600 km from the shore. A strong change in the orientation of the Fold Belt is referred to as the Colorado Syntaxis, a mirror image of the Cape Syntaxis in South Africa. This change reflects the buttressing effect of the cratonic blocks that hamper the northward propagation of syncollisional deformation and resulted in a 180-km shift of the orogenic front. The Mesozoic basins and the basement block distribution were analyzed. The Pampean Belt, a deformed area produced by the Pampia accretion to the cratonic area, is the locus to two episutural basins, the General Levalle and Macachín basins. The Salado Basin was interpreted as an episutural basin controlled by a 2.1–2.0 Ga suture within the Rio de la Plata Craton. The Colorado Basin is composed of four segmented depocenters that reflect different emplacement controls: the location of the western Colorado Basin was controlled by the Upper Paleozoic orogen; the distributions of the central and eastern Colorado depocenters, orthogonal to the continental boundary, were also strongly influenced by the Upper Paleozoic structures and were offset by lineaments that reflect Dom Feliciano fabric; the Colorado Basin external depocenter that parallels the continental margin was also controlled by these lineaments. We interpret a time gap of some 50 Ma between the beginning of the evolution of the margin-orthogonal depocenters and the Atlantic breakup.

@article{doi101016jmarpetgeo201205010,
    author = "Pángaro, Francisco and Ramos, Víctor A.",
    title = "Paleozoic crustal blocks of onshore and offshore central Argentina: New pieces of the southwestern Gondwana collage and their role in the accretion of Patagonia and the evolution of Mesozoic south Atlantic sedimentary basins",
    year = "2012",
    journal = "Marine and Petroleum Geology",
    abstract = "The southwestern Gondwana basement block configuration in the central Argentinean offshore area was analyzed using gravimetric, magnetic and seismic data and existing onshore tectonic models. The resultant maps, the distribution of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic basins and Paleozoic structural features were used to validate the interpretations and to produce a new regional tectonic model. Pre-Carboniferous southwestern Gondwana of South America was interpreted as an open margin formed from east to west by the Dom Feliciano Belt, the Río de la Plata Craton, the Pampean Belt and the Pampia and Cuyania terranes. The collision of the Patagonia allochthonous terrane during the Late Paleozoic resulted in the development of the Ventania-Cape Fold Belt, which was mapped for the first time off the Argentinean coast out to 600 km from the shore. A strong change in the orientation of the Fold Belt is referred to as the Colorado Syntaxis, a mirror image of the Cape Syntaxis in South Africa. This change reflects the buttressing effect of the cratonic blocks that hamper the northward propagation of syncollisional deformation and resulted in a 180-km shift of the orogenic front. The Mesozoic basins and the basement block distribution were analyzed. The Pampean Belt, a deformed area produced by the Pampia accretion to the cratonic area, is the locus to two episutural basins, the General Levalle and Macachín basins. The Salado Basin was interpreted as an episutural basin controlled by a 2.1–2.0 Ga suture within the Rio de la Plata Craton. The Colorado Basin is composed of four segmented depocenters that reflect different emplacement controls: the location of the western Colorado Basin was controlled by the Upper Paleozoic orogen; the distributions of the central and eastern Colorado depocenters, orthogonal to the continental boundary, were also strongly influenced by the Upper Paleozoic structures and were offset by lineaments that reflect Dom Feliciano fabric; the Colorado Basin external depocenter that parallels the continental margin was also controlled by these lineaments. We interpret a time gap of some 50 Ma between the beginning of the evolution of the margin-orthogonal depocenters and the Atlantic breakup.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2012.05.010",
    doi = "10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2012.05.010",
    openalex = "W2032456531",
    references = "doi101144gslsp20052460112, openalexw622476720"
}

@article{dias2017late,
    author = "Dias, R. and Moreira, N. and Ribeiro, A. and Basile, C.",
    title = "Late Variscan deformation in the Iberian Peninsula; a late feature in the Laurentia–Gondwana dextral collision",
    year = "2017",
    journal = "International Journal of Earth Sciences",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-016-1409-x",
    doi = "10.1007/s00531-016-1409-x",
    number = "2",
    openalex = "W2542941055",
    pages = "549-567",
    volume = "106",
    references = "doi1010079783642841538, doi1010160040195175900141, doi1010160040195189902394, doi101016jgsf201111008, doi101016jjafrearsci200509002, doi101016s0040195197000358, doi1010292006tc002058, doi10108011035898609453752, doi101130001676061977881305lpsfis20co2, doi105860choice284546"
}

@article{alsalem2018erratum,
    author = "Alsalem, Ohood B. and Fan, Majie and Zamora, Juan and Xie, Xiangyang and Griffin, William R.",
    title = "Erratum: Paleozoic sediment dispersal before and during the collision between Laurentia and Gondwana in the Fort Worth Basin, USA",
    year = "2018",
    journal = "Geosphere",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1130/ges01480e.1",
    doi = "10.1130/ges01480e.1",
    number = "4",
    openalex = "W4251776800",
    pages = "1988-1989",
    volume = "14",
    references = "doi10113000917613198614488epcpoa20co2, doi1011300091761320020300127pcwtgf20co2, doi1011301052517320060164tiaacm20co2, doi101130b264061"
}

@article{alsalem2018paleozoic,
    author = "Alsalem, Ohood B. and Fan, Majie and Zamora, Juan and Xie, Xiangyang and Griffin, William R.",
    title = "Paleozoic sediment dispersal before and during the collision between Laurentia and Gondwana in the Fort Worth Basin, USA",
    year = "2018",
    journal = "Geosphere",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1130/ges01480.1",
    doi = "10.1130/ges01480.1",
    number = "1",
    openalex = "W2780448621",
    pages = "325-342",
    volume = "14",
    references = "doi1010160012821x75900886, doi1010160012825296000086, doi101016jgsf201401002, doi1010292007gc001805, doi10106314822961, doi101126science25250111409, doi1011300016760619971090016onpgat23co2, doi101146annurevea16050188002551, doi10130609170404042"
}

Detailed global plate motion models that provide a continuous description of plate boundaries through time are an effective tool for exploring processes both at and below the Earth's surface. A new generation of numerical models of mantle dynamics pre- and post-Pangea timeframes requires global kinematic descriptions with full plate reconstructions extending into the Paleozoic (410 Ma). Current plate models that cover Paleozoic times are characterised by large plate speeds and trench migration rates because they assume that lowermost mantle structures are rigid and fixed through time. When used as a surface boundary constraint in geodynamic models, these plate reconstructions do not accurately reproduce the present-day structure of the lowermost mantle. Building upon previous work, we present a global plate motion model with continuously closing plate boundaries ranging from the early Devonian at 410 Ma to present day.We analyse the model in terms of surface kinematics and predicted lower mantle structure. The magnitude of global plate speeds has been greatly reduced in our reconstruction by modifying the evolution of the synthetic Panthalassa oceanic plates, implementing a Paleozoic reference frame independent of any geodynamic assumptions, and implementing revised models for the Paleozoic evolution of North and South China and the closure of the Rheic Ocean. Paleozoic (410–250 Ma) RMS plate speeds are on average ∼8 cm/yr, which is comparable to Mesozoic–Cenozoic rates of ∼6 cm/yr on average. Paleozoic global median values of trench migration trend from higher speeds (∼2.5 cm/yr) in the late Devonian to rates closer to 0 cm/yr at the end of the Permian (∼250 Ma), and during the Mesozoic–Cenozoic (250–0 Ma) generally cluster tightly around ∼1.1 cm/yr. Plate motions are best constrained over the past 130 Myr and calculations of global trench convergence rates over this period indicate median rates range between 3.2 cm/yr and 12.4 cm/yr with a present day median rate estimated at ∼5 cm/yr. For Paleozoic times (410–251 Ma) our model results in median convergence rates largely ∼5 cm/yr. Globally, ∼90% of subduction zones modelled in our reconstruction are determined to be in a convergent regime for the period of 120–0 Ma. Over the full span of the model, from 410 Ma to 0 Ma, ∼93% of subduction zones are calculated to be convergent, and at least 85% of subduction zones are converging for 97% of modelled times. Our changes improve global plate and trench kinematics since the late Paleozoic and our reconstructions of the lowermost mantle structure challenge the proposed fixity of lower mantle structures, suggesting that the eastern margin of the African LLSVP margin has moved by as much as ∼1450 km since late Permian times (260 Ma). The model of the plate-mantle system we present suggests that during the Permian Period, South China was proximal to the eastern margin of the African LLSVP and not the western margin of the Pacific LLSVP as previous thought. Keywords: Tectonic reconstruction, Paleozoic, Plate velocities, Subduction zone kinematics, Lower mantle structure, South China

@article{doi101016jgsf201805011,
    author = "Young, Alexander and Flament, Nicolas and Maloney, Kayla and Williams, Simon and Matthews, Kara J. and Zahirovic, Sabin and Müller, R. Dietmar",
    title = "Global kinematics of tectonic plates and subduction zones since the late Paleozoic Era",
    year = "2018",
    journal = "Geoscience Frontiers",
    abstract = "Detailed global plate motion models that provide a continuous description of plate boundaries through time are an effective tool for exploring processes both at and below the Earth's surface. A new generation of numerical models of mantle dynamics pre- and post-Pangea timeframes requires global kinematic descriptions with full plate reconstructions extending into the Paleozoic (410 Ma). Current plate models that cover Paleozoic times are characterised by large plate speeds and trench migration rates because they assume that lowermost mantle structures are rigid and fixed through time. When used as a surface boundary constraint in geodynamic models, these plate reconstructions do not accurately reproduce the present-day structure of the lowermost mantle. Building upon previous work, we present a global plate motion model with continuously closing plate boundaries ranging from the early Devonian at 410 Ma to present day.We analyse the model in terms of surface kinematics and predicted lower mantle structure. The magnitude of global plate speeds has been greatly reduced in our reconstruction by modifying the evolution of the synthetic Panthalassa oceanic plates, implementing a Paleozoic reference frame independent of any geodynamic assumptions, and implementing revised models for the Paleozoic evolution of North and South China and the closure of the Rheic Ocean. Paleozoic (410–250 Ma) RMS plate speeds are on average ∼8 cm/yr, which is comparable to Mesozoic–Cenozoic rates of ∼6 cm/yr on average. Paleozoic global median values of trench migration trend from higher speeds (∼2.5 cm/yr) in the late Devonian to rates closer to 0 cm/yr at the end of the Permian (∼250 Ma), and during the Mesozoic–Cenozoic (250–0 Ma) generally cluster tightly around ∼1.1 cm/yr. Plate motions are best constrained over the past 130 Myr and calculations of global trench convergence rates over this period indicate median rates range between 3.2 cm/yr and 12.4 cm/yr with a present day median rate estimated at ∼5 cm/yr. For Paleozoic times (410–251 Ma) our model results in median convergence rates largely ∼5 cm/yr. Globally, ∼90\% of subduction zones modelled in our reconstruction are determined to be in a convergent regime for the period of 120–0 Ma. Over the full span of the model, from 410 Ma to 0 Ma, ∼93\% of subduction zones are calculated to be convergent, and at least 85\% of subduction zones are converging for 97\% of modelled times. Our changes improve global plate and trench kinematics since the late Paleozoic and our reconstructions of the lowermost mantle structure challenge the proposed fixity of lower mantle structures, suggesting that the eastern margin of the African LLSVP margin has moved by as much as ∼1450 km since late Permian times (260 Ma). The model of the plate-mantle system we present suggests that during the Permian Period, South China was proximal to the eastern margin of the African LLSVP and not the western margin of the Pacific LLSVP as previous thought. Keywords: Tectonic reconstruction, Paleozoic, Plate velocities, Subduction zone kinematics, Lower mantle structure, South China",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2018.05.011",
    doi = "10.1016/j.gsf.2018.05.011",
    openalex = "W2810727617",
    references = "doi101016jgr201303001, doi101016jgr201704001, doi101016s0012825201000794, doi1011302007242306, doi101130g25614a1, doi101144gslsp20052460112"
}

Earth's penultimate icehouse (ca. 340–285 Ma) was a time of low atmospheric pCO2 and high pO2, formation of the supercontinent Pangaea, dynamic glaciation in the Southern Hemisphere, and radiation of the oldest tropical rainforests. Although it has been long appreciated that these major tectonic, climatic, and biotic events left their signature on seawater 87Sr/86Sr through their influence on Sr fluxes to the ocean, the temporal resolution and precision of the late Paleozoic seawater 87Sr/86Sr record remain relatively low. Here we present a high-temporal-resolution and high-fidelity record of Carboniferous–early Permian seawater 87Sr/86Sr based on conodont bioapatite from an open-water carbonate slope succession in south China. The new data define a rate of long-term rise in 87Sr/86Sr (0.000035/m.y.) from ca. 334–318 Ma comparable to that of the middle to late Cenozoic. The onset of the rapid decline in 87Sr/86Sr (0.000043/m.y.), following a prolonged plateau (318–303 Ma), is constrained to ca. 303 Ma. A major decoupling of 87Sr/86Sr and pCO2 during 303–297 Ma, coincident with the Paleozoic peak in pO2, widespread low-latitude aridification, and demise of the pan-tropical wetland forests, suggests a major shift in the dominant influence on pCO2 from continental weathering and organic carbon sequestration (as coals) on land to organic carbon burial in the ocean.

@article{doi101130g400931,
    author = "Chen, Jitao and Montañez, Isabel P. and Qi, Yuping and Shen, Shu‐zhong and Wang, Xiangdong",
    title = "Strontium and carbon isotopic evidence for decoupling of pCO2 from continental weathering at the apex of the late Paleozoic glaciation",
    year = "2018",
    journal = "Geology",
    abstract = "Earth's penultimate icehouse (ca. 340–285 Ma) was a time of low atmospheric pCO2 and high pO2, formation of the supercontinent Pangaea, dynamic glaciation in the Southern Hemisphere, and radiation of the oldest tropical rainforests. Although it has been long appreciated that these major tectonic, climatic, and biotic events left their signature on seawater 87Sr/86Sr through their influence on Sr fluxes to the ocean, the temporal resolution and precision of the late Paleozoic seawater 87Sr/86Sr record remain relatively low. Here we present a high-temporal-resolution and high-fidelity record of Carboniferous–early Permian seawater 87Sr/86Sr based on conodont bioapatite from an open-water carbonate slope succession in south China. The new data define a rate of long-term rise in 87Sr/86Sr (0.000035/m.y.) from ca. 334–318 Ma comparable to that of the middle to late Cenozoic. The onset of the rapid decline in 87Sr/86Sr (0.000043/m.y.), following a prolonged plateau (318–303 Ma), is constrained to ca. 303 Ma. A major decoupling of 87Sr/86Sr and pCO2 during 303–297 Ma, coincident with the Paleozoic peak in pO2, widespread low-latitude aridification, and demise of the pan-tropical wetland forests, suggests a major shift in the dominant influence on pCO2 from continental weathering and organic carbon sequestration (as coals) on land to organic carbon burial in the ocean.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1130/g40093.1",
    doi = "10.1130/g40093.1",
    openalex = "W2793608141",
    references = "doi101086675235"
}

@inproceedings{andlarramendi2019investigation,
    author = "Larramendi, Gustavo A. and Clements, Andrew G. and Hawman, Robert B.",
    title = "INVESTIGATION OF THE LATE PALEOZOIC COLLISION IN SOUTHERN GEORGIA BETWEEN GONDWANA AND LAURENTIA AND THE RESULTING DEFORMATIONAL RESPONSE OF THE UPPER MANTLE",
    year = "2019",
    booktitle = "Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1130/abs/2019se-326566",
    doi = "10.1130/abs/2019se-326566",
    openalex = "W2948512686"
}

Abstract The Late Mississippian was a critical time interval in Laurentia's history, marking the transition from carbonate deposition on a stable platform, during the Early to Middle Mississippian, to extensive clastic deposition in the Pennsylvanian to Permian associated with the Laurentia‐Gondwana collision. In the U.S. midcontinent, Chesterian incised valley fill (IVF) systems that developed within a carbonate‐dominated platform provide new insights on the patterns and drivers of continental‐scale sediment dispersal during this transitional period. Here we report 1,037 new concordant detrital zircon U‐Pb ages from nine samples of Uppper Mississippian sandstone collected from cores in southwestern Kansas and from outcrops in northwestern Arkansas. The sandstones are characterized by major age clusters corresponding to the Grenville (900–1,300 Ma) and Taconic‐Acadian (350–500 Ma) orogenies and minor older age groups, suggesting derivation from the Appalachian region. A compilation of published detrital zircon ages from Early Paleozoic sandstones as well as from temporally equivalent units across North America, including from the Appalachian Foreland Basin, Illinois Basin, Arkoma Shelf, Ozark Dome, Black Warrior Basin, and Grand Canyon, suggests Chesterian sandstone age distributions are distinct from those of older sandstones and are consistent with a change to a dominantly Appalachian age signature that was roughly synchronous across the continent. Together, the new and compiled ages support development of a generally E‐W transcontinental sediment dispersal system in the Late Mississippian that was likely controlled by orogenesis on the eastern Laurentian margin, while local variations in the age signatures appear to be controlled by N‐S drainage networks, influenced by glacioeustatic fluctuations and local structures.

@article{doi1010292019gc008469,
    author = "Wang, Wei and Bidgoli, Tandis S.",
    title = "Detrital Zircon Geochronologic Constraints on Patterns and Drivers of Continental‐Scale Sediment Dispersal in the Late Mississippian",
    year = "2019",
    journal = "Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems",
    abstract = "Abstract The Late Mississippian was a critical time interval in Laurentia's history, marking the transition from carbonate deposition on a stable platform, during the Early to Middle Mississippian, to extensive clastic deposition in the Pennsylvanian to Permian associated with the Laurentia‐Gondwana collision. In the U.S. midcontinent, Chesterian incised valley fill (IVF) systems that developed within a carbonate‐dominated platform provide new insights on the patterns and drivers of continental‐scale sediment dispersal during this transitional period. Here we report 1,037 new concordant detrital zircon U‐Pb ages from nine samples of Uppper Mississippian sandstone collected from cores in southwestern Kansas and from outcrops in northwestern Arkansas. The sandstones are characterized by major age clusters corresponding to the Grenville (900–1,300 Ma) and Taconic‐Acadian (350–500 Ma) orogenies and minor older age groups, suggesting derivation from the Appalachian region. A compilation of published detrital zircon ages from Early Paleozoic sandstones as well as from temporally equivalent units across North America, including from the Appalachian Foreland Basin, Illinois Basin, Arkoma Shelf, Ozark Dome, Black Warrior Basin, and Grand Canyon, suggests Chesterian sandstone age distributions are distinct from those of older sandstones and are consistent with a change to a dominantly Appalachian age signature that was roughly synchronous across the continent. Together, the new and compiled ages support development of a generally E‐W transcontinental sediment dispersal system in the Late Mississippian that was likely controlled by orogenesis on the eastern Laurentian margin, while local variations in the age signatures appear to be controlled by N‐S drainage networks, influenced by glacioeustatic fluctuations and local structures.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1029/2019gc008469",
    doi = "10.1029/2019gc008469",
    openalex = "W2987568437",
    references = "alsalem2018paleozoic"
}

Abstract The Permian Basin of west Texas, one of the most economically significant hydrocarbon basins in the United States, formed along the southwest margin of Laurentia in the foreland of the Ouachita-Marathon orogen during the late Paleozoic. While its stratigraphic record temporally coincides with syn- and post-orogenic Ouachita-Marathon sedimentation, sediment provenance, sediment routing and dispersal, and paleo-drainage evolution have remained controversial. This study presents more than 2000 new detrital zircon U-Pb ages from 16 samples across the Permian Basin to elucidate early Permian sediment provenance and basin-fill evolution. The data show that Wolfcampian sandstones are dominated by 950–1070 Ma and 500–700 Ma detrital zircon U-Pb ages, whereas Leonardian sandstones and siltstones are dominated by 500–700 Ma and 280–480 Ma detrital zircon U-Pb ages. Most of these age clusters are not typical Laurentian basement ages, but rather indicative of a southern Gondwanan and peri-Gondwanan sources of Mexico and Central America. This interpretation is corroborated by zircons with peri-Gondwanan and Gondwanan rim-core relationships, as well as major age components of euhedral zircons, matching Maya block basement ages. Regional comparison of these new detrital zircon results with published data from Carboniferous and Permian sedimentary rocks in various terranes of Mexico and Central America, Appalachian foreland basins, Ouachita orogenic belt, midcontinent of United States, and Fort Worth Basin (Texas), indicates that most sediment influx to the Permian Basin during the early Permian (Wolfcampian and Leonardian) was derived from basement or recycled upper Paleozoic strata associated with Gondwanan and peri-Gondwanan terranes in modern Mexico and Central America. North American basements such as the Appalachian Grenville (950–1300 Ma), Granite-Rhyolite (1300–1500 Ma), and Yavapai-Mazatzal (1600–1800 Ma) provinces, appear to have provided only minor amounts of sediment. In light of depositional age constraints, the timing of Marathon-Ouachita collision, and careful detrital zircon U-Pb age spectra comparison, the sediment provenance shift from Wolfcampian to Leonardian points to a diachronous, oblique continent-continent collision between Gondwana/peri-Gondwanan terranes and Laurentia.

@article{doi101130b351191,
    author = "Liu, Li and Stöckli, Daniel F.",
    title = "U-Pb ages of detrital zircons in lower Permian sandstone and siltstone of the Permian Basin, west Texas, USA: Evidence of dominant Gondwanan and peri-Gondwanan sediment input to Laurentia",
    year = "2019",
    journal = "Geological Society of America Bulletin",
    abstract = "Abstract The Permian Basin of west Texas, one of the most economically significant hydrocarbon basins in the United States, formed along the southwest margin of Laurentia in the foreland of the Ouachita-Marathon orogen during the late Paleozoic. While its stratigraphic record temporally coincides with syn- and post-orogenic Ouachita-Marathon sedimentation, sediment provenance, sediment routing and dispersal, and paleo-drainage evolution have remained controversial. This study presents more than 2000 new detrital zircon U-Pb ages from 16 samples across the Permian Basin to elucidate early Permian sediment provenance and basin-fill evolution. The data show that Wolfcampian sandstones are dominated by 950–1070 Ma and 500–700 Ma detrital zircon U-Pb ages, whereas Leonardian sandstones and siltstones are dominated by 500–700 Ma and 280–480 Ma detrital zircon U-Pb ages. Most of these age clusters are not typical Laurentian basement ages, but rather indicative of a southern Gondwanan and peri-Gondwanan sources of Mexico and Central America. This interpretation is corroborated by zircons with peri-Gondwanan and Gondwanan rim-core relationships, as well as major age components of euhedral zircons, matching Maya block basement ages. Regional comparison of these new detrital zircon results with published data from Carboniferous and Permian sedimentary rocks in various terranes of Mexico and Central America, Appalachian foreland basins, Ouachita orogenic belt, midcontinent of United States, and Fort Worth Basin (Texas), indicates that most sediment influx to the Permian Basin during the early Permian (Wolfcampian and Leonardian) was derived from basement or recycled upper Paleozoic strata associated with Gondwanan and peri-Gondwanan terranes in modern Mexico and Central America. North American basements such as the Appalachian Grenville (950–1300 Ma), Granite-Rhyolite (1300–1500 Ma), and Yavapai-Mazatzal (1600–1800 Ma) provinces, appear to have provided only minor amounts of sediment. In light of depositional age constraints, the timing of Marathon-Ouachita collision, and careful detrital zircon U-Pb age spectra comparison, the sediment provenance shift from Wolfcampian to Leonardian points to a diachronous, oblique continent-continent collision between Gondwana/peri-Gondwanan terranes and Laurentia.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1130/b35119.1",
    doi = "10.1130/b35119.1",
    openalex = "W2946348660",
    references = "alsalem2018paleozoic, doi102110jsr201363"
}

Abstract The Ancestral Rocky Mountains system consists of a series of basement-cored uplifts and associated sedimentary basins that formed in southwestern Laurentia during Early Pennsylvanian–middle Permian time. This system was originally recognized by aprons of coarse, arkosic sandstone and conglomerate within the Paradox, Eagle, and Denver Basins, which surround the Front Range and Uncompahgre basement uplifts. However, substantial portions of Ancestral Rocky Mountain–adjacent basins are filled with carbonate or fine-grained quartzose material that is distinct from proximal arkosic rocks, and detrital zircon data from basins adjacent to the Ancestral Rocky Mountains have been interpreted to indicate that a substantial proportion of their clastic sediment was sourced from the Appalachian and/or Arctic orogenic belts and transported over long distances across Laurentia into Ancestral Rocky Mountain basins. In this study, we present new U-Pb detrital zircon data from 72 samples from strata within the Denver Basin, Eagle Basin, Paradox Basin, northern Arizona shelf, Pedregosa Basin, and Keeler–Lone Pine Basin spanning ∼50 m.y. and compare these to published data from 241 samples from across Laurentia. Traditional visual comparison and inverse modeling methods map sediment transport pathways within the Ancestral Rocky Mountains system and indicate that proximal basins were filled with detritus eroded from nearby basement uplifts, whereas distal portions of these basins were filled with a mix of local sediment and sediment derived from marginal Laurentian sources including the Arctic Ellesmerian orogen and possibly the northern Appalachian orogen. This sediment was transported to southwestern Laurentia via a ca. 2,000-km-long longshore and aeolian system analogous to the modern Namibian coast. Deformation of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains slowed in Permian time, reducing basinal accommodation and allowing marginal clastic sources to overwhelm the system.

@article{doi101130l11151,
    author = "Leary, Ryan J. and Umhoefer, Paul J. and Smith, M. Elliot and Smith, Tyson and Saylor, Joel E. and Riggs, Nancy and Burr, Greg and Lodes, Emma and Foley, Daniel J. and Licht, Alexis and Mueller, Megan and Baird, Chris M.",
    title = "Provenance of Pennsylvanian–Permian sedimentary rocks associated with the Ancestral Rocky Mountains orogeny in southwestern Laurentia: Implications for continental-scale Laurentian sediment transport systems",
    year = "2020",
    journal = "Lithosphere",
    abstract = "Abstract The Ancestral Rocky Mountains system consists of a series of basement-cored uplifts and associated sedimentary basins that formed in southwestern Laurentia during Early Pennsylvanian–middle Permian time. This system was originally recognized by aprons of coarse, arkosic sandstone and conglomerate within the Paradox, Eagle, and Denver Basins, which surround the Front Range and Uncompahgre basement uplifts. However, substantial portions of Ancestral Rocky Mountain–adjacent basins are filled with carbonate or fine-grained quartzose material that is distinct from proximal arkosic rocks, and detrital zircon data from basins adjacent to the Ancestral Rocky Mountains have been interpreted to indicate that a substantial proportion of their clastic sediment was sourced from the Appalachian and/or Arctic orogenic belts and transported over long distances across Laurentia into Ancestral Rocky Mountain basins. In this study, we present new U-Pb detrital zircon data from 72 samples from strata within the Denver Basin, Eagle Basin, Paradox Basin, northern Arizona shelf, Pedregosa Basin, and Keeler–Lone Pine Basin spanning ∼50 m.y. and compare these to published data from 241 samples from across Laurentia. Traditional visual comparison and inverse modeling methods map sediment transport pathways within the Ancestral Rocky Mountains system and indicate that proximal basins were filled with detritus eroded from nearby basement uplifts, whereas distal portions of these basins were filled with a mix of local sediment and sediment derived from marginal Laurentian sources including the Arctic Ellesmerian orogen and possibly the northern Appalachian orogen. This sediment was transported to southwestern Laurentia via a ca. 2,000-km-long longshore and aeolian system analogous to the modern Namibian coast. Deformation of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains slowed in Permian time, reducing basinal accommodation and allowing marginal clastic sources to overwhelm the system.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1130/l1115.1",
    doi = "10.1130/l1115.1",
    openalex = "W3004112572",
    references = "alsalem2018paleozoic, doi10130664ed9a4c172411d78645000102c1865d, doi10247510200601"
}

Abstract The Neoproterozoic tectonomagmatic evolution of West Avalonia comprises four major events. Tectonism started with the formation of a Tonian passive margin on a Baltica-derived ribbon dispersed into the Mirovoi Ocean. Obduction of an oceanic terrane onto the ribbon produced olistostromes, deformation and metamorphism before 750 Ma. Obduction was followed by a Tonian (750–730 Ma) arc on the created composite crust. A pause in magmatism between 730 and 700 Ma is the next event. Subsequently, a Cyrogenian (700–670 Ma) arc was formed, which may have collided with Baltica or another buoyant element nearby. Thereafter, a long-lasting (640–565 Ma) continental arc was erected which, combined with the late Ediacaran–Early Paleozoic sedimentary cover, represents the hallmark of West Avalonia. A Caribbean-style incursion of the Ediacaran arc into the widening Tornquist gap between Amazonia and Baltica led to a diachronous collision with the Ganderian arc. Strike-slip slivering produced a complex transfer of terranes to both: Carolinia and smaller terranes to Ganderia, and East Avalonia to West Avalonia. The Rheic Ocean opened diachronously at c. 500 Ma, following a plate reorganization and re-establishment of an oblique subduction zone beneath Amazonia. As a result, Avalonia and Ganderia became progressively separated and dispersed into the Iapetus Ocean.

@article{doi101144sp503202023,
    author = "van Staal, Cees R. and Barr, Sandra M. and McCausland, P. J. A. and Thompson, Margaret D. and White, Chris E.",
    title = "Tonian–Ediacaran tectonomagmatic evolution of West Avalonia and its Ediacaran–early Cambrian interactions with Ganderia: an example of complex terrane transfer due to arc–arc collision?",
    year = "2020",
    journal = "Geological Society London Special Publications",
    abstract = "Abstract The Neoproterozoic tectonomagmatic evolution of West Avalonia comprises four major events. Tectonism started with the formation of a Tonian passive margin on a Baltica-derived ribbon dispersed into the Mirovoi Ocean. Obduction of an oceanic terrane onto the ribbon produced olistostromes, deformation and metamorphism before 750 Ma. Obduction was followed by a Tonian (750–730 Ma) arc on the created composite crust. A pause in magmatism between 730 and 700 Ma is the next event. Subsequently, a Cyrogenian (700–670 Ma) arc was formed, which may have collided with Baltica or another buoyant element nearby. Thereafter, a long-lasting (640–565 Ma) continental arc was erected which, combined with the late Ediacaran–Early Paleozoic sedimentary cover, represents the hallmark of West Avalonia. A Caribbean-style incursion of the Ediacaran arc into the widening Tornquist gap between Amazonia and Baltica led to a diachronous collision with the Ganderian arc. Strike-slip slivering produced a complex transfer of terranes to both: Carolinia and smaller terranes to Ganderia, and East Avalonia to West Avalonia. The Rheic Ocean opened diachronously at c. 500 Ma, following a plate reorganization and re-establishment of an oblique subduction zone beneath Amazonia. As a result, Avalonia and Ganderia became progressively separated and dispersed into the Iapetus Ocean.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1144/sp503-2020-23",
    doi = "10.1144/sp503-2020-23",
    openalex = "W3022476035",
    references = "doi101016jtecto201511020, doi101144001676492008088"
}

Late Mississippian to middle Permian sediment-dispersal networks of regional to continental scale in western equatorial Pangea, depicted here in a series of paleogeographic maps, developed in response to temporally and spatially changing influences of climate, eustasy, and a continent-wide late Paleozoic orogenic system. The orogenic system included linked Alleghanian, Ouachita-Marathon-Sonora collisional belts and associated foreland basin systems on Laurentia and magmatic arcs on Gondwana, intracratonic basement uplifts and basins of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains, flexural arches and intracratonic basins of the US midcontinent region, and basins and uplifts of the southwestern Laurentian transcurrent continental margin. Consideration of new and published U-Pb detrital-zircon datasets permits delineation of Laurentian sediment-dispersal networks of the developing supercontinent. The Transcontinental Arch deflected Late Mississippian transcontinental rivers with Alleghanian headwaters toward the southern midcontinent and nascent, deep-marine foreland basins along the Ouachita collision orogen. Pennsylvanian rivers likewise headed in the Alleghanian Orogen, transporting sediment southwest across the midcontinent and along the Alleghanian foreland basin to empty into the Arkoma Basin and Fort Worth Basin, which also received voluminous sediment from Gondwana and the Ouachita Orogen. Concomitantly, major growth of Ancestral Rocky Mountains uplifts yielded basement-derived sediment, much of which was retained in local flexural basins. Increased aridity drove ascendant eolian transport in early Permian (Artinskian) time, just as lowstand desiccation of a midcontinent seaway exposed unconsolidated silt and sand derived from eastern, western, and southern sources in an extensive interior desert sink. Eolian transport within the interior desert further mixed and deflated the already-cosmopolitan sediment, pushing it southwest toward the Permian Basin and westward beyond the Ancestral Rocky Mountains. Intercepted by newly developed monsoonal circulation, the deflated sediment came to reside in erg systems along the western marine margin of Pangea. Subtropical Pennsylvanian transcontinental fluvial networks were similar to those of modern big river systems of the eastern and midcontinent United States that drain toward the Gulf of Mexico. In contrast, Permian drainage networks yielding sediment to a continental desert more resembled Pleistocene sediment routes of the Arabian Plate; there, intermittent wadis draining western rift highlands and big rivers of the Mesopotamian foreland contribute sediment to Arabian eolian sands via zonal and monsoonal surface winds to create widespread sand seas of mixed Eurasian and Arabian provenance.

@article{doi101016jpalaeo2021110386,
    author = "Lawton, Timothy F. and Blakey, Ronald C. and Stöckli, Daniel F. and Liu, Li",
    title = "Late Paleozoic (Late Mississippian–Middle Permian) sediment provenance and dispersal in western equatorial Pangea",
    year = "2021",
    journal = "Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology",
    abstract = "Late Mississippian to middle Permian sediment-dispersal networks of regional to continental scale in western equatorial Pangea, depicted here in a series of paleogeographic maps, developed in response to temporally and spatially changing influences of climate, eustasy, and a continent-wide late Paleozoic orogenic system. The orogenic system included linked Alleghanian, Ouachita-Marathon-Sonora collisional belts and associated foreland basin systems on Laurentia and magmatic arcs on Gondwana, intracratonic basement uplifts and basins of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains, flexural arches and intracratonic basins of the US midcontinent region, and basins and uplifts of the southwestern Laurentian transcurrent continental margin. Consideration of new and published U-Pb detrital-zircon datasets permits delineation of Laurentian sediment-dispersal networks of the developing supercontinent. The Transcontinental Arch deflected Late Mississippian transcontinental rivers with Alleghanian headwaters toward the southern midcontinent and nascent, deep-marine foreland basins along the Ouachita collision orogen. Pennsylvanian rivers likewise headed in the Alleghanian Orogen, transporting sediment southwest across the midcontinent and along the Alleghanian foreland basin to empty into the Arkoma Basin and Fort Worth Basin, which also received voluminous sediment from Gondwana and the Ouachita Orogen. Concomitantly, major growth of Ancestral Rocky Mountains uplifts yielded basement-derived sediment, much of which was retained in local flexural basins. Increased aridity drove ascendant eolian transport in early Permian (Artinskian) time, just as lowstand desiccation of a midcontinent seaway exposed unconsolidated silt and sand derived from eastern, western, and southern sources in an extensive interior desert sink. Eolian transport within the interior desert further mixed and deflated the already-cosmopolitan sediment, pushing it southwest toward the Permian Basin and westward beyond the Ancestral Rocky Mountains. Intercepted by newly developed monsoonal circulation, the deflated sediment came to reside in erg systems along the western marine margin of Pangea. Subtropical Pennsylvanian transcontinental fluvial networks were similar to those of modern big river systems of the eastern and midcontinent United States that drain toward the Gulf of Mexico. In contrast, Permian drainage networks yielding sediment to a continental desert more resembled Pleistocene sediment routes of the Arabian Plate; there, intermittent wadis draining western rift highlands and big rivers of the Mesopotamian foreland contribute sediment to Arabian eolian sands via zonal and monsoonal surface winds to create widespread sand seas of mixed Eurasian and Arabian provenance.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110386",
    doi = "10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110386",
    openalex = "W3155972205",
    references = "alsalem2018paleozoic, doi101016jjsg200802016, doi101016jjsg201301007, doi101130dnaggnad2109, doi101130dnaggnaf2603, doi101130dnaggnaf2661, doi10130664ed9a4c172411d78645000102c1865d, doi102110jsr2007084, doi102110jsr201363, doi10247510200601"
}